Happy New Year! And welcome to part 4 in this continuing series…

I’m a big believer in having a lot of fun in how you work and how you play.

Maverick Rule #31 says “Make your business AND doing business with you FUN!”

As a self-described “adventure junkie”, I’ve found that my own life-changing experiences (such as Running with the Bulls, Bungee Jumping, Sky diving, Exotic Car Rallies, Baja racing, Zero-Gravity flights, etc.) have not only brought a profound sense of accomplishment but also led to breakthroughs in ideas, focus and business thinking.  Trust me, you don’t have to get as extreme as I do sometimes – but you do need to break out of your typical routine. Fresh thinking and big ideas come from new experiences away from the office! Plus, as you open yourself up to new adventures or experiences it opens up different ways of thinking about issues in your business (and life).

Let’s start…

By and large, most people’s businesses are B-O-R-I-N-G! I’m talking Zzzzzzzzz city! Even the good sales letter sites do not use this technique to breathe life into their site beyond the typical benefit-driven headline, subheads, etc.

I’m talking about giving your site (and yourself) a unique personality in the marketplace. First, let’s talk about giving a site a personality. Here’s one of my favorite examples – www.Demotivation.com and www.Despair.com

The personality of being sarcastic, entertaining and against the grain comes out just about everywhere on the site. Here are a few examples, starting with Demotivation.com.

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From the FAQs about their book “The Art of Demotivation”:

1. Is this book for real?
As sure as the ISBN is 1-892503-40-9, this book is for real. If you don’t believe us, order a copy and watch as our real financial department really charges your real credit card for thirty real dollars.

2. What is the overall message of The Art of Demotivation?
Here’s a message for you: Buy the book! You’re too old for Cliffs Notes, dude.

12. Will there be a paperback version of The Art of Demotivation?
A paperback version? Would you sell a 1997 Louis Roederer Cristal champagne in a Juicy Juice box? We’re about quality. If you want a paperback, go read the newest John Grisham book. I think it might have something to do with lawyers.

26. Is it possible to get Dr. Kersten’s autograph on my copy of the book?
Dr. Kersten autographs each and every Chairman Edition of The Art of Demotivation with a personal message. He can’t be bothered with Manager or Executive Editions. Money talks, yo.

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This book comes in 3 editions – up to the $1,195.00 Executive version. Check out some of the copy from that page –

Now on Despair.com they sell some of my favorite prints which are the opposite of ‘Successories’. I bought some of my friends this year for the holidays. They are hilarious! This is the one I bought my buddy Bill Glazer:

Look at the navigation bar on the site – even the way the buttons are labeled gives you more of the site’s personality. There’s a button for “Spin”, in which people can view and sign up for audio & video podcasts. And then instead of “customer service” or support there is “disservice”.

Check out the “Contact” us link

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Contact Us

As should be quite apparent, Despair takes great efforts to avoid contact with virtually everyone. However, we recognize that, from time to time, it becomes necessary for someone to reach us. (e.g. notifying Dr. Kersten of various nominations, particularly those with cash components)

(PLEASE NOTE: All order and product-related inquiries should be sent via our Troubled Ticket form.)

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And when you click to contact them – they have a picture of their own poster about “Apathy: If we don’t take care of the customer, maybe they’ll stop bugging us”.

Now a true personality for your website has to be carried through in all the little communications with customers and prospects. To see how far they take their personality – here’s the response after you fill out a “troubled ticket”:

They really have this personality plugged into every nook and cranny of their website – I love it!

Now you might be thinking that you’ll repel some customers and people will get a little pissed off after this type of treatment. The answer is absolutely yes! And that’s a good thing because you don’t want to be plain vanilla if you are in heavily competitive marketplaces. Go ahead and polarize your prospects/customers to either love you or hate you. There’s no money to be made in the middle. Look at Howard Stern. There are people who absolutely love him and now pay Sirius radio a monthly subscription just to listen to their “god”. But on the other hand there are lot of people too who will tune in just to see what Howard says so they can hate him more.

Let me show you a few more examples of a site personality…

Here’s one: www.CordaRounds.com. It’s a site that sells horizontal corduroy pants (and shorts) instead of vertical. It sounds kind of stupid but this company has got a lot of mileage out it and their customers are really into it. The founder of CordaRounds, Christopher Lindlands, does a great job of bringing in the quirky, wacky and fun side of their product on the site. Take a look at their “motto”, in which they call themselves, very firmly tongue-in-check, an Evil Multinational Corporation:

What started out as a joke has become a real business. In 2005 they sold 3,000 pairs of courdarounds. The fun, quirky and wacky style comes across just about everywhere on the site. In fact, here’s the “technology” behind these remarkable breakthrough pants:

And once you get into the actual store – the same personality is evident. Check out this product photo:

Here’s another site to check out – www.CDBaby.com – that doesn’t quite go as far but it tells you in no uncertain terms you’re not dealing with a conglomerate. Check out the personality that comes through in their emails about when your CD ships:

Thanks for your order with CD Baby!

Your CD has been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with

sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.

A team of 50 employees inspected your CD and polished it to make sure
it was in the best possible condition before mailing.

Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over
the crowd as he put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that money
can buy.

We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party
marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of
Portland waved ‘Bon Voyage!’ to your package, on its way to you, in
our private CD Baby jet on this day, Wednesday, August 7th.

I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby.  We sure did.
Your picture is on our wall as ‘Customer of the Year’.  We’re all
exhausted but can’t wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!

Thank you once again,

Derek Sivers, president, CD Baby
the little CD store with the best new independent music
phone: 1-800-448-6369  email: cdbaby@cdbaby.com
http://www.cdbaby.com

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Themed Marketing for Mavericks

One of the biggest issues most businesses have is not being BORING!

You want your customers and prospects to be thinking “Wow! What’s this crazy guy (or gal) going to do next?”

It’s no secret that the majority of your customers/prospects live somewhat typical lives. So it’s not enough anymore just to present an offer filled with benefits but it’s also got to entertain them and keep it exciting.

I’m going to let you step behind some of my best-selling campaigns that involved “themes”. Now don’t think you need to create some sort of corny, fake image that’s not really you – you don’t. You want to keep it fun and keep the sales message in the forefront of your prospect’s mind.

Let’s start with my very first one – that was “Yanik’s 30^th Birthday Bash!”

I decided I was going to hold a super blowout party for my 30^th birthday and invite all my best customers/prospects to it.

Over 531 people came to my little birthday party (see the pic above) and it was the biggest Internet Marketing-only seminar at that time.

I brainstormed what a birthday party has and then planned my promotion – and the actual event – around it. People everywhere love to have fun! Entertainment is something people spend their last nickel on because everyone wants to have fun.

So here’s what I did…

First, starting with the promotion. Here’s the first page of the sales letter – notice me in the goofy birthday hat:

A few guys on my hockey team saw this picture and gave me a hell of a time at the next game we had. But the picture really fits perfectly. You may or may not want to be this “goofy”, but don’t throw away the idea of “Birthday Bash” in your honor as a perfect sales event. I know 2 other info marketers who took this concept, and one ended up doing multiple 6-figures from this event. (His was a 40^th Bday Bash!)

I also tied my event into a charity – Make-A-Wish Foundation®. I worked with the Central FL chapter (instead of trying to contact National headquarters) and they were extremely accommodating . Here’s the paragraph describing the charity requirement and a second optional (FUN) gag gift contest:

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There is one simple requirement for getting into the Birthday Bash:

1. There is a $50.00 charitable donation required to attend. The whole $50 will go to Make-a-Wish® of Central and Northern Florida. Your donation will help grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions. I’ve personally donated thousands and thousands of dollars to the Make-a-Wish Foundation ® and I’m hoping that we’ll able to grant at least 2 or 3 wishes with the amount we raise. The $50.00 donation is paid now and is non-refundable to hold your spot — but there is no fee for the event.

The event is going on at Disney’s Coronado Spring Resorts. We have negotiated a special rate of only $131/night with the hotel for seminar attendees (During prime vacation time this is a real steal). Information for registering will be given to you (only) when you have confirmed seminar registration. Let me assure you, Disney’s Coronado Spring Resorts is a great resort that you’ll really enjoy! It’s close to all the Disney parks and other attractions.

And then there’s also a second OPTIONAL admission requirement that gets you entered into a fabulous contest!
2. (OPTIONAL) A gag gift for me. Show up with some sort of silly or funny gag gift for me and you’ll be entered into a contest for the “best gag gift”. The winner will be decided by an attendee vote. You might want to give this gift a bit of thought because the winner will receive either a half-day consultation with me (that’s s $2,000.00 value) or $500.00 in cash. And the runner-up will get their choice of one of our best-selling products or $200.00 in cash.

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It was pretty cool that we were able to raise $25,000.00 for Make-A-Wish® and really make a difference in a lot of kid’s lives.

As far as the gag gift contest – that got pretty out of control during the event. I loved it! We got piles and piles of gifts. Some were definitely a bit off kilter. One guy from the UK thought it was a “stag” party and handed me a ream of porn magazines. Another guy brought over some endangered animal pelt that he smuggled into the country. Someone else gave me a family heirloom passed down through generations.

I mean, you name it – I got it. Fart machines, dancing birthday bears, a giant sack of fake money (I liked that one), a picture of me with Al Gore saying I invented the Internet, a blank book “written” by me called “Everything I know about the Internet”, etc, etc. We even had a beagle come out and bark “Happy Birthday” to me.

I bring all this up because it’s all part of the birthday party theme. If you are going to do a theme go for it all the way! We had confetti on the tables, balloons all over the seminar room, banners, etc. We even brought out cake (yes, very thin slices) for everyone, and Mickey Mouse even came out to lead the crowd in singing happy birthday.

All these little touches made it a lot of fun for everyone attending, even if each speaker was selling something. The whole attitude of most of the people there was that they’d never had such a great time and learned so much.

Underground Theme

Okay let me showcase another theme you should be well versed in…my very own Underground Online Seminar®.

I’ve already shared the thinking behind the Underground and how it was meant to be a complete 180 degree shift from any other Internet event, since every speaker is a “real-world” doer and not someone who sells “How to Get Rich Online” as their main business. So at a brainstorming meeting with my own MasterMind group the theme become a SPY theme.

I really try to play up the theme in every communication and “touch” a prospect has from me relating to the Underground. It’s evolved a bit since the very first event and I’ll share with you some interesting examples along to way to show…

Here’s one of the first direct mail pieces that went out:

Instead of having speakers or presenters, we had “Rogue Agents” with their front and spy-profiles like they were “wanted”. I gave each speaker a distinct agent name. Here are a couple of the first graphics:

I truly tried to tie in everything into a full spy experience. The event was (and still is) held in Washington, DC because that’s the spy capital of the world. And once attendees got to the event they were immersed in the world of the Underground.

We had 2 checkpoints set-up to sign their NDA (called the “Cone of Silence” which nobody picked up on from Get Smart) and then they were handed their spy briefcase.

Now inside the briefcase was the attendee manual, a T-shirt (“Official Underground Agent”) and official Underground sunglasses.

The theming continued throughout the event with the VIP dinner being held at the Spy Museum in Washington, DC. We had a private dinner there and really played it up. To enter there were 2 Russian border patrol guards checking for passwords. And then Boris and Natasha showed up for a little entertainment. And finally, the whole group went on a private tour of the Spy Museum.

For the next year’s Underground® II – I went even further…

This time I used a specific spy theme – “Austin Powers” – instead of a combination of all spy themes. I wanted to keep it different enough that people who attended #1 would still be surprised and excited with #2. Underground® II sold-out even faster than the first one – and we added 100 more seats.

And going with the movie theme, here’s a little preview movie poster I had created before we announced the event:

I really got into ‘character’ for this one. Actually it wasn’t hard, because I love Austin Powers and that was one of my favorite Halloween costumes ever. And we decided to up the ante a lot and bring in professional entertainment for the VIP dinner. I hired an Improv troupe from Canada who were all “Second City” alum. They were awesome! We called it a ‘mystery spy whodunit dinner’ and everyone was roaring in their seats….especially when I was killed off. Somebody started yelling “Search the dead guy for drink tickets!”

I decided to go full tilt and hire a celebrity tied to the theme, so I booked “Mini Me” – AKA Verne Troyer – from the Austin Powers movies. Surprisingly it’s not as much as you’d think to book a celebrity (depending on their status) and it can really add a lot to your events. Here’s a picture of me, Verne and our “Roller Girls” (see, I told you I went all the way with the theme).

Having a celebrity there not only gives you excitement but provides additional reasons to contact your customers.

The next year for Underground® III I kept up the theme but this time it was a “Mission Profitable” theme and I brought in Peter Graves from the original TV series. And when I did the Underground® UK we had a James Bond theme with the prize being an Aston Martin race day experience. This year we’re doing “Get Smarter” so I’m sure there will be something with a shoe phone!

Using Holidays & Events

You don’t need to rack your brain for a theme or something to add fun into your business. Just use a calendar of holidays and events to find your perfect excuse.

A few Halloweens ago I released my “Ultimate At-Home Internet Copywriting Course”.

I planned the launch during Halloween and wanted to create a bit of a stir in the Internet marketing community to try to get some people talking about what I was doing. So my idea was to become “Count Yanik”. You see, the previous Halloween I dressed up as “The Count” from Sesame Street. Missy said I was the most annoying guest at the party because I went around counting everything…

“One, Two, Three beer bottles…..Ahhhhh…..Ahhhh!!!…..”

“One, Two, Three, Four, Five hot dogs…..Ahhhhh…..Ahhhh!!!…..”

Okay, so maybe I was annoying – but I had fun.

Regardless, I had one good photo of me in my purple make-up, monocular and black cape. That became a key part of my campaign. I sent our subscribers to this page with a message from the “Count” – http://www.UltimateCopywritingWorkshop.com/count/

It’s a flash animation file I had created where you see a purple bat fly into the screen and turn into a talking “Count Yanik”. Then I turn back into a bat and fly out of the screen. I paid $150 to have this created at www.Rentacoder.com – super cheap.

Then on the landing page there’s even more Halloween theme. I really got into it with the “bloody” text. Actually Missy told me I had to tone it down so people could read it better. I settled on just the headline in dripping blood.

And there were a couple sections of the letter where I mixed in more fun elements of Halloween:

Bonuses:

Guarantee:

I added a follow-up audio postcard – http://ultimatecopywritingworkshop.com/trickortreat/ (this was my Halloween costume pic from 2 years ago):

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Okay now how about results?

This sold over six-figures of my copywriting course in the first week on the market. Actually more specifically 114 packages for a total of $145,350.00. So this stuff works!

Now there are a couple big points I really want to make sure you get before I go on with a other examples:

#1 – Make your marketing fun and have people wonder, “What is this guy/gal up to next?”

Fact is, most of your prospects and customers probably lead fairly normal and mundane lives. If you can give them something to get excited about or even live a little bit through what you do – you’ll have ‘hooked’ them in.

#2 – This is critical! Don’t make your theme or “fun” idea take away from the sales message. Big advertisers do this all the time and waste all their money. They try to use humor or something clever in their advertising but have no salesmanship. The fun or theme aspect of your promotion cannot stand on its own without the fundamentals of direct response (i.e. compelling offer, deadline, headlines, benefits, etc). Bottom line – don’t confuse this with being cute or clever and not actually selling. There is a big, BIG difference.

#3 – “Reason Why” copy works perfectly for most of the events or themes you create. As you know, most retailers will use some sort of event (i.e. Presidents Day) for a sale. Well that’s a pretty weak reason why, but most people will accept just about any excuse for a special deal. However, when you combine it with real meaningful reason why copy it works even better, even if the reason is a bit contrived. For example, I did a “Save Yanik’s Marriage” sale when I needed to clean out our stockroom because Missy was pissed off at me.

Using this psychological ‘hot button’ can massively increase your Marketing success.

Max Sackheim, famous for the long-running ad “Do You Make These Mistakes In English” and originator of the book-of-the-month concept, says this: “Whenever you make a claim or special offer in your advertising, come up with an honest reason why, and then state it sincerely. You’ll sell many more products this way.”

Adding More Fun to a Regular Business

I’m always interested in what companies do to add more fun to their business. Certainly booking a hotel room usually isn’t the most exciting thing in the world (well – I guess it can be if you’re going to a cool resort), but otherwise a room is pretty much a room. I’m a big fan of the “W” hotels.

Here’s a promo I got from them promoting a “Sleep-a-Way Camp” theme. Smart.

Notice the copy – it ties into this theme, from the s’mores to bug juice. Good stuff and a little inspiration for you to think up something fun for your customers. Personally, I think simply delivering a straight product/service will only get you so far. The companies that will excel are the ones that deliver true experiences and entertainment for their customers. People are bored. People are busy. People are jaded. You need something to break through all of that.

Creating More Fun Away From Business

Okay, now let’s switch gears and talk about your personal life. I know for many entrepreneurs (including me) the default mode is work. There are always too many projects and too many to-do’s left undone. That’s why I firmly believe you need to have something else scheduled and on the calendar.

Think back to when you were a kid and what activities or interests got you really jazzed and excited. Somehow as ‘adults’ many of us have lost that sense of fun and inspiration. What did you like to do? For me, it was playing sports, drawing and making people laugh. That’s why I still play ice hockey and beach volleyball. It’s why I’ve taken art classes and stand-up comedy classes. I make sure to incorporate what gives me enjoyment into my life by actually making it a priority.

How many times have you heard yourself saying, “I’d love to ___ BUT I can’t because I’m too busy.” That’s total bullshit. What you’re really saying is that activity does not have enough priority in my life. Or I feel guilt around having fun.

Don’t just settle for enjoying life when you squeeze it in between your business. Here’s a great quote from Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz, New-York Times Best-Seller “The Power of Full Engagement“:

“…the richer and deeper the source of emotional recovery, the more we refill our reserves and the more resilient we become.”

Put fun activities, rewarding experiences and exceptional adventures on your calendar and protect them like you would any ‘real’ appointment.

I’ve previously written a lot about this, so instead of just copying and pasting I want to link over to the posts. It’s well worth reading them!

Creating your Ultimate BIG Life List

I’ve always been a fan of lists and I know many other successful people share this notion. What better list can you create than a list for your most memorable and exciting life? I call this my “Ultimate BIG Life List”. (Btw – you see many of mine on this blog on the right-hand side.)

Shutting down the 3-most common excuses for not checking off items on your ‘Ultimate BIG Life List’

At this point a little voice inside your head might be whispering (or shouting) about all the reasons you can’t do this kind of fun stuff in your business or in your life. It’s these excuses that will sap the spirit and energy out of your life. As entrepreneurs, we’re naturally inclined to create so let’s smash these final excuses to create what you really want in your life & business.

Creating your own Fun…Or how to stop “I’m Bored Syndrome”

You don’t have to wait for the EPIC over-the-top experiences to add more fun into your life; I’ve done something I call “tweaking the fun” with regular, everyday activities. See what you think.

I think we’re wrapping up with the next part – part 5 talking about ‘Giving More’. See you on the next installment.

** Update**

You can now download this series of blog posts (and the other posts they refer to) here. http://www.surefiremarketing.com/decade/

Authentic Connections:

Everybody has heard the expression, “It’s not what you know – but who you know – that counts.”

That’s partially true and I’d have to say the ability to create high-level connections has been a big factor in my success over the last 10 years but I’ve never really shared exactly how I think about this.

First off, I really don’t like the word “Networking” to describe a connection. That conjures up the image of somebody walking into a ‘mixer’ and slinging their business cards around like some 2-for-1 Red Lobster coupon. Or going to events that have “speed networking” aspects where you glad-hand 3 dozen people and ask them “What-do-you-do? How-can-I-help-you?”

All of this strikes me as being somewhat cheesy!

So what do you do?

Be genuine: I’ve watched some of my friends, like Joe Polish, who I think are incredible at their connections and it comes from a real genuineness. I see Joe tell really silly jokes and just be himself. That’s really refreshing. Personally, I’ve been known to buy a couple dozen shots and start handing them out at the bar during an event. It totally fits my personality plus it gets people to say ‘Hello’ to me who I wouldn’t normally meet.

When I talk to people I’ve just met I look for any connections we have outside of work. In fact, I purposefully do not ask, “What do you do?” unless they ask me first. Of course, I’m interested but I’d rather find out something unusual about them.

Make Intros: The other thing I consciously think about is who in my existing network can I intro them to or foster a connection with. This is a trait some of the best connectors I know do – they are extremely generous with introductions where it makes sense.

Be distinctive: My friend and business coach, Cameron Herold, former COO of 1-800-Got-Junk, told me about how his team would wear blue logoed vests at seminars and events. People would stop them and ask what 1-800-Got-Junk did or what it was and it was a really good way to stand out. With our metal business cards for Maverick Business Adventures – they stand out and get people showing them around to others around them at a meeting.

Get Diverse: Some of my favorite connections have come out of charities I support or hobbies or different interests. There’s a different connection formed with a common interest first, and business second. What’s more, if you have a shared intense experience you’ll have a much deeper connection. I think that’s one of the reasons Maverick members have done so many deals together and are so eager to help each other. It’s a deeper bond than simply meeting a person at a seminar or event.

Become prolific and prominent: This probably isn’t that big of a secret but it’s worth mentioning. If you can get on stage, write a book, become an expert, etc. – you’ll have people seeking you out.

Follow-up: I admit I don’t do this as well as I could but I shoot quick texts, emails or clippings over to people when I know it’s something they’re interested in.

Get up close and personal: Probably every high-level connection I’ve had has been a result of meeting someone in person. The original intro could have started online or via email – but it was only when you sit down with someone that there’s been a deeper bond. Some of the best ‘in-the-flesh’ connections have come at seminars & events. (ahem…Underground) Events and seminars are one level of intimacy but I’ve found that having shared experiences really accelerates the level of friendship. That’s why so many deals get done while off-road racing in Baja or paddling a class V river with Maverick Business Adventures.

Another high-level practice I’ve used to make connections and push my business forward is by harnessing the power of Mastermind groups…

MasterMind Groups

“If you can grasp this principle and apply it you may have, for your efforts, whatever you want on this earth!”

Those are the words of Napoleon Hill, who first coined the term “MasterMind” in his widely-regarded “Think & Grow Rich” and “Law of Success” works.

In case you don’t know the story, Hill was commissioned by Andrew Carnegie to interview 500 other successful men and women looking for the secret to success. One of the key concepts he discovered was the power of a MasterMind group. Every titan of industry from Henry Ford to Thomas Edison to William Wrigley, Jr. all tapped into this, either “by accident or design” as Hill says.

I’ve been part of multiple MasterMind groups and have run several for the last 4 years. I’ll share the different ways they’ve worked and also how to set-up your own.

Personally, I can count at least $2M+ in revenue that came from ideas generated from my own private MasterMind groups that I never would have figured out on my own. What’s more, my first dream car (Mercedes SL55) was bought and paid for just from one single idea conceived at a MasterMind meeting. Another idea has turned into a $45,000.00+ monthly revenue stream with no end in sight.

And yet another idea (really more of a a tiny tweak) was directly responsible for $290,000.00 in sales during 2 weekends. Those are just a few of the ideas that come to mind immediately – I’m sure if pressed I could recount even more big ideas that came as a direct impact of being part of a MasterMind.

On top of the breakthrough ideas – there are many more reasons a MasterMind can help you reach new levels in your business…

1. Speed – Imagine the speed that comes from tapping into the collective brain trust of experience and results here. For instance, if you had 12 people in the group testing 1 new thing in their business each month, that’s 12 x 12 = 144 new breakthroughs. It would take you 144 months on your own to be able to get the same information.
2. Competitiveness – There’s a certain friendly “competitive spirit” among the MasterMind group because nobody wants to show up to a meeting without something to “brag on” or with successes to share. It’s this competitiveness that drives results even further that the group benefits from.
3. Increased Productivity – A MasterMind group empowers you to become more than you are now. At the meetings you are surrounded by other successful entrepreneurs who spark new ideas and fresh energy!
4. Accountability – Each MasterMind member gets even more accomplished because they feel accountable to the group for their actions and progress.
5. Group feeling – When a MasterMind group has been properly selected, each person is cooperating and cheerleading for your best results, efforts and “best-self” to step forward. Quite frankly, it’s pretty lonely being a top performing entrepreneur, so having a group of successful peers who understand you is incredibly important.
6. New resources and contacts – It’s not unusual to walk away from meetings with a notebook full of new contacts and resources. A MasterMind group lets you tap into shared contacts and unique expertise from other like-minded members.
7. New perspectives – Each member brings with them a new perspective, model or frame of reference to an issue or idea. It’s exactly these kind of fresh insights that lead to big breakthroughs instead of looking at a situation through the same filter.

I’ve been part of informal and formal Mastermind groups, and typically it works much better when there is some formality to it because that usually increases commitment. If you’re interested in starting your own group you must make sure there are serious commitments and consequences for missing meetings. I’ve been part of groups that meet 1x/month or 1x/quarter and I’ve found that for extremely busy and successful individuals the 3 or 4 times/year in person is ideal.

When I was getting started some of my friends and I started a local group that met 1x/month and that was too much. We then moved to about every other month and that worked better. Then as we got more successful we moved to a quarterly structure and then we slowly dissolved the group.

It’s not to say that monthly can’t work, but normally at the highest level people’s schedules are so hectic that it becomes extremely tough to make happen. Peer-to-peer groups like YPO and EO work have forums (essentially MasterMind groups) which meet once per month. (Silly side note: I guess entrepreneurs don’t grow up because the forum groups have names like Zero Guilt, Suspects Gone Wild, etc.)

These forum groups run monthly since every member does not get a chance to present in depth what they are doing and get advice each meeting. It’s a round-robin. I prefer having each member get advice and give value each meeting.

I’ve also been part of two different Internet MasterMind groups that don’t have a set meeting schedule and simply run via a list-serv. For asking quick questions, getting resources or trading junior high jokes this is a simple format that has benefits. One is still active and I think it has to do with the fact that we were all friends first before we created it.

Now being part of so many different groups – and seeing which ones worked and which ones didn’t – I’ll give you a few pointers:

1) Confidentiality within the group is imperative.

2) Trust among the group (this grows as the group shares more time together).

3) True peer-to-peer with a qualification process (i.e. start-ups and multiple 7-figure business owners don’t typically have the same issues.)

4) Openness and focus on giving – not just taking value.

5) Commitment to the group.

The 2 MasterMind groups I run have a simple (but powerful) format. Each member gets approximately 50 minutes to present something that is working well in their business that other members can use for their own businesses. Then the second half of their presentation time they present a problem or opportunity for the group to help with.

[Note: MasterMind members consist of business owners with a 7-figure business or within ‘striking distance’ of 7-figures. If you’d like to be considered for a spot for 2010/2011 you can download a confidential application here.]

I’m also working on new pilot program for 2010 to combine the deep connections that happen with unique, shared experiences on Maverick trips and the natural evolution of deeper trust between the same group of people over time. It’s going to be called “Maverick Mastermind”. These groups are true Masterminds of elite entrepreneurs ($1M+ businesses) that get together 3 times a year, live, for adventures and business sessions. Essentially a long weekend within a 2 hours drive of their host city. Part of the time will be participating in cool activities like racing, air combat, etc. to create the intense shared experience plus get you out of the office. And the other part of the weekend retreat will be spent getting specific business feedback & brainstorming for each member. The pilot program will take place in the Mid-Atlantic and on the West Coast in early 2010. What’s more, there will also be a chance for the Maverick Mastermind members to have a local young entrepreneurship mentoring opportunity in their community. Contact our office if you’re interested.

Mentors & Thought Provokers

I always believe it’s the people you meet, books you read and experiences you have that influence your life.

As I mentioned in part 1, I learned from Earl Nightingale early on about books/resources/educational material as a “mentorship”. Personally, I still get through a least one book a week for that type of education. But I’ve also been lucky enough to meet & interview many people I look to for their philosophies around life, business and achievement. Here are the ‘Cliff Notes’ versions of what I’ve taken away from just a few.

My dad, Joseph Zilberbaum – probably my first business hero.

He came to the U.S. with $256 in his pocket for me, my mom and grandmother and built up a small, multiple 7-figure medical equipment company. I learned the immigrant work ethic of starting with nothing and creating. I got marketing/sales experience on the ground that would have taken me 10-15 years somewhere else since I got to succeed or fail based on what I created or produced. I certainly got my entrepreneurial spirit from my father. In fact, one day I’m need to write a post (or book) about the “immigrant success secret” – why American born children are less likely to become millionaires than immigrants.

My mom, Aleksandra Silverbaum – passion, fun and cheerful attitude. My mom passed away 2 days before my very first Underground Online Seminar in 2003. She had battled breast and ovarian cancer for 11 years but she didn’t let the cancer define who she was. She was always up for a party or a good time in between treatments. When my mom got remarried I made a deal with her. I told her I’d pay for her first-class trip to Vegas if she got married off by Elvis. True to form – she said YES without batting an eye. No doubt, I get a lot of my fun side from my Mom. And the other lasting effect she had on me was the unconditional encouragement for any idea or venture even though she didn’t understand half of them. Unfortunately my mom passed away when Missy was 5 months pregnant and never saw Zak, but his middle name, Aleksandr, is a tribute to her.

[Note: If you caught it my parents had different last names because as Russian immigrants my mom thought the translation was incorrect when we came over. Zilberbaum actually means “Silver Tree” and I legally shortened my family’s name to Silver for simplicity awhile back.]

Earl Nightingale – Helped me to be ok with the fact that I was ‘different’ than many of my friends. Not in an elitist way – but simply something inside of me that said I didn’t want to settle for an ordinary life. And his message of “Extraordinary people do the things ordinary people will not do.” really struck a chord. I really wish I had a chance to meet Earl in person but his message lives on through his recordings.

Dan Kennedy
– Dan has certainly been a huge influence in my life. He’s the first person that opened my eyes to the fact you could take information and sell it. Certainly, meeting Dan was one of those big, pivotal turning points in my life. Not only did Dan provide the inspiration, but also the nuts & bolts – a combination rarely found. It’s exciting to see how things come full circle because I’ve spoken at many Dan Kennedy events, I helped them get their affiliate program up & running for Glazer/Kennedy and even had Dan attend the Underground® the first year.

John Harricharan – my friend John is somebody who makes sure I nourish the spiritual side of my being. I remember meeting John in Boulder, CO, at Jonathan Mizel’s seminar back in 2001. I came rollerblading through the lobby and John was having breakfast with my buddy, Rob Olic. John immediately had the feeling that we were going to be friends and I’d have a tremendous impact on the world.  Might sound odd but I’ve come to discover John is a very gifted intuitive reader. Since then I’ve relied on John for his insights and advice. In fact, John’s “Power Pause” book holds a little 3-minute exercise that I still use to this day since discovering it back in ’01. It’s profoundly simple but yet incredibly powerful getting you on track to what you want and opening yourself up to getting it. Frankly – I’m not one of those spiritual ‘walk on hot coals’ type of guys – but his stuff really has had a profound effect on my life

Now in the last few years with Maverick Business Adventures® – it’s been exciting to be able to bring in all sorts of business icons and spend time with them. Here are just a few that shaped my thinking:

Dean Graziosi, Joe Polish and Yanik Silver
came together to help raise over $450,000
for Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Unite

Sir Richard Branson – Certainly my biggest business hero from the way he runs multiple companies to his own sense of adventure. It’s been incredible to spend significant time with Richard on his private island, Necker Island.

Every time I’m with Richard I marvel at how ‘in the moment’ he is. He seems very relaxed and always spends serious one-on-one time with the person he’s speaking to. I also love the way he says “YES” to projects and adventures. While on Necker the second time around, Tellman Knudson, asked him to marry off Jodie and him. The impromptu weeding was set-up with Richard being Tellman’s best man. Or I’ve seen Richard say yes to new business projects pitched his way over a rum punch.

What’s more, I’ve really picked up how Richard’s fingerprints are prominent on so many of his businesses. That culture of being “cheeky” is found throughout. In fact, I had the chance to read a branding manual for Virgin group and that’s exactly what they talk about in there.

Another point I saw in action was his social consciousness. Founding Virgin Unite and using the power of entrepreneurship and innovative thinking to solve societal problems has been inspiring. In fact, the last time we were on Necker I wrote down this quote he said that stuck with me, “If you are going to make a difference you have to work hard at making a difference.”

His latest book, “Business Stripped Bare”, is really worth picking up because it has some real business insights and isn’t quite so fluffy like his other ones.

John Paul DeJoria and Yanik in 80′s gear and pink hair to support breast cancer

John Paul DeJoria – J.P., who holds the rank of #261 on Forbes list of World’s Richest with an estimated $2.5B net worth, came on our “Totally Rad Maverick 80′s Road Rally” and told his story from homeless to billionaire.

One of the things I wrote down that really stood out for me was when he talked about how having no money makes you creative. I firmly believe that.  J.P. talked about how he had a pending deadline to pay his printer for the shampoo bottles they just screened – so he went knocking on doors. And guess what? Even after J.P. was a billionaire and started the Patron tequila company with a friend, he still started small. He didn’t invest millions into the project – they bought 1,000 cases to test it out.

I asked J.P. the question of, “What’s the difference between billionaire thinking and millionaire thinking?” His reply was 3 zeroes. At first, I thought that was a trite response but after reflecting on it – probably not. It’s just like for me today getting to a million is no big deal…I think if you give it a big deal (the billion or million) then it holds dominion over you. But if you reduce it down to just a few more zeros – it’s not that big a deal.

What I really loved about J.P. was this incredible energy about him. It’s almost hard to explain, but the guy truly seemed to so content and happy. Of course, you might think that’s easy as a billionaire – but I don’t think that’s the reason.

Tony Hsieh, keynoting Underground® 5

Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com – Having Tony keynote our Underground® seminar for the past two years and spending time with him socially – he’s impressed me. (btw – don’t play the 5 questions game with Tony over vodka shots!) I used to believe values were complete B.S. for companies until I spent time listening to Tony. One thing he kept stressing to our audience and in private conversations was to create the core values! Over and over and over again. To Tony, it’s never too soon or too early in a company’s creation to do it. That’s part of how our Maverick DNA was born.

Frank McKinney – Frank is hailed as “the Daredevil Developer and Real Estate Rock Czar”. He’s the somewhat crazy guy who builds 8…even 9-figure oceanfront homes on spec (meaning – no buyer before he starts). I’ve been inspired by Frank’s take on life and his philanthropic attitude. (Definitely grab his book “Make it Big”!)

Frank is definitely not someone that blends into the background with his wild rock star clothing, theatrical house openings and long blonde hair. We were walking back from an event together and I asked him a question about personality and “flair” as he calls it in his book. He said he’s naturally shy but will turn up his authentic personality just a bit to stand out. I found that reassuring. It’s not about becoming someone you’re not, but being a little bit bigger version of yourself to create bigger things.

Moreover, Frank is a real inspiration to me with the work he does with his Caring House Project Foundation, building homes for the desperately poor and homeless in Haiti. He likens himself to a modern day Robin Hood by selling to the ultra rich and then providing much of the profits to his work in Haiti.

Jesse James – Jesse has been with us on 2 Maverick Baja adventures and I have really enjoyed getting to know this motorcycle mogul. From first blush you might write Jesse off with his multiple tattoos and hard-nosed attitude…but the guy is quite business savvy. You might have seen him recently on Celebrity Apprentice – and he really surprised a lot of people.

From Jesse I took away the aspect of saying ‘No’ to opportunities not authentic to your brand. With his popularity came lots and lots of requests to endorse products or license his name or image, and 90% of the time he would decline. Jesse was careful to not simply grow his personal brand for the sake of growing, but made it mean something. Though on the flip side of the coin when the right opportunities come up he’s been very astute to work licensing deals with the right partners. Many people thought it was a mistake to work with Wal-Mart to sell the West Coast Choppers line of t-shirts but from his modest background it was the right move.

Cameron Herold – Cameron has come into my life recently but has already had a really big impact. Cameron helped grow 1-800-Got Junk from a couple million to $100M before leaving as COO. He’s been the impetus for the Painted Picture I created for the Maverick group of companies. And he’s really been someone that has really held me accountable to make sure I’m creating what I say I want to. I big believer in the fact there are no accidents and the way I met Cameron was a funny story because we both appeared in a Canadian newspaper article about entrepreneurship on the same day. And also during that same week 2 people independently mentioned my name to him.

There are probably at least several dozen more people I could mention here. My business buddies are some of the smartest and most giving people around, and I always take something away from simply watching their marketing or during late-night talks in hotel suites. Or the Maverick Business Adventures members who have impressed me with their business savvy, zest for life and giving spirit on each and every trip!

Okay that’s a wrap for Part 3 – please leave a comment and let me know what you think. Also, since this is quite long I’ll bundle everything up into a neat little PDF with a bow when I’m finished. (Be sure to subscribe to our RSS feed or provide your email address in the upper right-hand corner to be notified when each new section is up on the blog.)

Look for Part 4 where we’ll move into the “Have More Fun” aspect in life and business. I’m a big believer in having a lot of fun in how you work and how you play. First, I’ll show you some of the ways of creating incredible bonds with your customers and increasing your revenue at the same time.

Then, I’m going to do my best to coax out the inner kid you in to come forward.

*****

** Update**

You can now download this series of blog posts (and the other posts they refer to) here. http://www.surefiremarketing.com/decade/

So let’s start where we left off, talking about “Making More”…

Maverick Rule #1 says:

It’s got to be a BIG idea that you, your team and your customers can “get” in seconds.

Creating The BIG Idea

Before we get started with the how – let’s talk about the why. Why do we even need to worry about creating some kind of hook, angle or big idea for our product or service? Easy answer is because there is so much frickin competition! There’s just too much noise in the marketplace (in just about every marketplace) that you need some way of sticking out.

If you don’t have a big idea you simply fade into the background like every other ‘me-too’ product or service. Actually it’s not always even about having a proprietary product/service. This is really more about positioning and the immediate reaction a prospect has to your deal the moment they hear it.

That’s on the key elements of the BIG idea – gut reaction. If you want a real interesting insight into this get the book “Blink” by Malcolm Gladwell. You’ll see exactly how much our attitudes and perceptions are based on what he calls “thin slicing”. With our world’s being busier than ever – people usually don’t have all the time in the world to explore absolutely everything about a product or service. We’ve got to use shortcuts for our decision-making. And the clearer and more poignant you can make a distinction for your product or service the better you’ll do in the crowded marketplace.

Let me cover some real-world examples and then you’ll have a little better notion of how to create the same kind of hooks and angles for yourself. I’ll start with a couple products from the consumer world and see if you can pick up on it…

“Uncrustables”

“100 Calorie Packs”

“8 Minute Abs”

“Time Shares”

“101 Nights of Grrreat Sex”

“The Real World”

“Club Med”

“24”

All of these consumer products broke out and created serious financial windfalls for companies involved.

1. Uncrustables are a pretty silly idea but they work. Create a pre-made PB&J sandwich, remove the crust and seal it together so the bread is a little pouch. Then put in your freezer and stick in your kids lunch bag to thaw for lunch.  (Side note: We buy these a lot! Missy absolutely loves uncrustables herself. I’m the one who loves 5-star meals at fancy restaurants with great wine, while she could go for a grilled cheese sandwich any day of the week.)
2. 100 Calorie Packs are from Nabisco and now have grown to a bunch of different varieties. Anything from Ritz crackers to Oreo cookies – but they only have exactly 100 calories per pouch. That’s the big idea – you don’t have to count calories because we’ve done it for you. You know that with each snack pack you can’t eat 18 portions because we’ve put less than 100 calories in there for you.
3. 8 Minute Abs – the name says it all. That’s all you need to hear to know exactly what you get and how long it’ll take. It’s specific and very powerful – enough that on the strength of this concept hundreds of thousands of copies were sold
   
4. Time Shares – it’d be almost impossible for someone today not to know what a time share is – but in the late 60’s and early 70’s this was a breakthrough concept. You could simply purchase a week of a hotel/condo instead of buying the whole thing. The concept first debuted in Europe and quickly spread to the US in Florida and Hawaii.
5. 101 Nights of Grrreat Sex – I absolutely loved this concept when I saw in bookstores. It was so different. This is a paperback (mass market, bookstore) book by Laura Corn that has 50 sealed activities for men and 50 for women. You just rip out a page and away you go. You don’t have to think too much because it’s all there for you. The other point that I absolutely love about this book is the curiosity factor. You simply cannot “browse” the book like you typically would in a bookstore. All the pages are sealed and you only get little tantalizing hints like “Sucking the Mango”, etc. Laura is a fabulous marketer and constant promoter – she smartly has charged a premium price on her of $29.95 (way more than most paperbacks).
6. The Real World is probably the first reality TV show and was a major breakthrough because there were no actors and no script. MTV concocted a recipe to whip up mega drama from a bunch of strangers all living together. Hey, I watched it. I still remember season #1 in NY. This concept is so strong that they are still going years and years later. Of course, reality TV has gone haywire in the past few years and really exploded. TV viewers will watch just about any kind of reality show if Flavor Flav is any indication.
7. Club Med started the all-inclusive concept for vacations in the 50’s. This was a BIG idea since previously you had to pay for meals, drinks, activities, etc. all separate.
8. 24 is the TV show that I haven’t seen copied yet. It’s got a unique format of every episode occurring in an hour of real time. And the entire season occurs over exactly 24 hours. Missy and I were totally hooked on it until about Season 5 or 6. If you watch this show – you know what I mean when I say we can’t believe some of the twists and ridiculous turns the writers put in there – but we go along for the ride.

Okay I’m sure many of you picked up on some of these BIG ideas but I want to make sure nothing is glossed over because this is critical and means the difference between a “base hit” or a “home run” product.

There are 5 major things I think about and keep in mind when coming up with a BIG idea or hook for something I’m doing:

#1: Give Them the FISH!

I can’t over emphasis this idea and I can’t remember how long I’ve been telling this to students. People are downright lazy – cater to it! Everyone knows the saying about if you give the man a fish you feed him for a day but if you teach him to fish you feed him for life. Let me give it to straight here – that’s complete and total B.S.!

People want the fish handed to them on their plate, grilled perfectly and with some seasonal vegetables on the side. Look at Home Depot – the world’s largest “do it yourself” company in the world. Why did they suddenly start buying up companies left and right and provide the service for consumers? And why does their CEO think the “done for you” services will eclipse their current sales? Hmmmm….

I’ve had big success with giving people the “fish” including the first online product that you’re probably sick of hearing by now - Instant Sales Letters. The whole hook behind Instant sales letters is in the headline on the site – “In Only 2 ½ Minutes You Can Quickly and Easily Create A Sales Letter Guaranteed To Sell Your Product Or Service…Without Writing! Looking To Increase Your Business? Just Fill In A Few Blanks And PRESTO… You’ve Just Created A Powerful, Money-Making Sales Letter!”

That hook has been responsible for me generating $1M+ with a little $40 – $50 product.

Another big success story using the “FISH” concept has got to the Public Domain Goldmine package created with my partner, Michael Holland. After the success of my Public Domain Riches product where I covered how to find and profit from public domain works – I realized many people didn’t want to go through the trouble of finding the public domain works and analyzing markets themselves. Here’s the big idea:

I’m going to hand you 35 different public domain works on a silver platter with nearly EVERYTHING done for you and ready to start making you money. We’re talking all the market research, competitive analysis, keyword analysis, locating back-end affiliate revenue sources, finding potential joint venture partners, clearing the copyrights, etc. – All for a TINY fraction of the time and money you would have to spend if you did it all yourself

That hook was enough to make sure all the volumes released so far have instantly sold out. Giving people exactly what they want handed to them in a done-for-them concept is so powerful.

As I look back, I’ve been doing this since I started selling information in ‘98. In fact, one of the very first successful products was a pre-done newsletter for cosmetic surgeons to send to their patients already written for them. Here’s how very simple and straightforward the letter selling this product started:

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“How To Write A Patient Newsletter…Without Writing”

Dear Doctor,

Are you too busy to write your own patient newsletter?

You know you need a newsletter, but if you’re like most doctors, you just can’t find the time to ever get one out. Coming up with interesting articles and compelling stories is hard, hard work, and unless you have lots of extra time on your hands, it’s easy to keep putting off publishing a newsletter until “someday”.

But of course, we all know “someday” usually never comes…

Oh sure, there are a couple companies that will do it all for – but they’ll charge you an arm and a leg. And since they don’t really know the first thing about compelling offers and killer copy it probably won’t get too many patients to actually call you (which is the whole point of putting out a newsletter).

Well, all that can change starting now…

Announcing The Pre-Done, Ready-To-Go, Camera-Ready, Just Plug-In Your Name and Phone Number, Patient Newsletters

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One of my previous students, Lisa Preston, had been struggling with the information marketing business online until she took the “FISH” concept to heart. She launched “Instant Niche Emails”, which provided an easy way to get 52 weeks of follow-up autoresponders for just about any niche. It’s a great concept and she quickly saw her sales explode because of the big idea. And this isn’t just for info products – if you look back over the examples I originally gave you, I would put “Club Med” into the “FISH” category because they provide you everything you need to gave a wonderful vacation for one price. I’d also put “Uncrustables” in the “Fish” category since Moms and Dads just need to chuck one of those sandwiches into the little tykes lunch bag and they’re all set.

I’d possibly put “101 Nights of Grrreat Sex” in this since each torn out page gives you exact specific instructions but they don’t give you all the props, etc.

Okay on to the second way to develop BIG ideas and hooks…

#2: Make Your Promise Specific

Specifics are so important but usually completely overlooked because it’s much easier to make a generic promise. However, a specific promise or a specific target market makes your marketing that much more powerful.

One of my best selling products (since 2001) has been “33 Days to Online Profits” that I co-wrote with Jim Edwards. I firmly believe that “brand” has been kept alive because of the very specific claim or hook. Originally when Jim and I first began discussing the idea behind this ebook it was going to 30 Days to Online Profits – but we decided on “33” because it was specific (and credible). The other unique aspect of this product is that each day you are given a homework assignment so it’s a step-by-step, day-by-day course for 33 days.

I have no doubt in my mind if the title was “30 Days to Online Profits” it wouldn’t be as successful.

Here’s another example from an actual critique I gave to a student when they submitted an idea that they wanted to create an info product for Stay-at-home-moms….

Here’s what I told them in the critique: “Stay at home moms are a great category – you need to get specific on it the moneymaking info. How about something like “233 Ways Stay at Home Moms Can Make an Extra $200 Every Month” Now that’s different, specific and has a nice hook to it.”

You can see from my comments how much more powerful this would make the concept. Specifics also apply to things like “1001” compiled resources. However, I don’t like “typical” numbers so I’d use very specific numbers like “233” or “33” as I mentioned.

Looking at the first group of examples I’d obviously put “8-minute abs”, “100 calorie packs” and probably “101 Nights of Grrreat Sex” into the specifics category. Side Note: Notice “101 Nights” is in both categories and I firmly believe you can create bigger and better hooks by having not just one of these factors in your BIG idea. Stack them on top of one another!

Another good example of specifics selling the big idea is the success of “5 Hour Energy”.  I found this a few years back when I needed an energy boost before my Hockey finals. I went to 7-11 and was sitting there trying to decide which energy supplement/drink/powder/doohickey I should buy. I saw this little bottle called “5 Hour Energy”. I read a tiny bit on the back of the bottle and grabbed it. Yeah it tasted like crap but it worked. Not only did it give me more energy (we won the championship) but it worked from their marketing standpoint.

A point-of-purchase product like that really depends on you being able to make a split second decision whether or not you’ll get it. (Fact is, many decisions are made like this from a quick emotional, gut level but we don’t want to admit it to ourselves.) So using #2 – a specific promise of “5 hours of energy” they were able to get my business. Now just recently I saw them advertising their site – www.5hourenergy.com on TV which to me means the product has become pretty successful in a marketplace filled with competitors (like Red Bull, etc).

#3: Go the Opposite Direction

I love this. However, I don’t suggest being different just for the sake of being different – however – there is a lot to be said for ‘zigging’ when others ‘zag’.

My biggest example of this is the “Underground” concept I developed

Don’t you think there are more than enough Internet seminars going on all over the place? Some good. Some not so good. It’s real tough to create a stir in the Internet space unless you have something different. Which is exactly why I didn’t want to do another ‘same-ole’ Internet seminar. Of course, the easy way (and trust me there is nothing easy about putting on seminars) would have been to just gather up all my buddies and have a seminar – but that would be too similar to other established events.

My big hook (which was true) is every year I bring in a lot of unknown speakers who were really making it in the real world online. It wasn’t the same usual suspects you’d see at other events. I took it all the way with making the promotions ‘spy’ themed to stand out. Sure, some people emailed us and said it was silly. But a lot more people got into it because it was different. It really worked! Each year the event has SOLD-OUT weeks before the event took place (just as a comparison most other events will get the bulk of their registrants 2-3 weeks before the seminar and most will take registrants up until the event.)

[Shameless plug: This year’s Underground® 6 event has an incredible line-up of speakers and we’re just about to announce 2 really big keynote additions. The very best bonuses including the VIP networking dinner and lowest ticket prices expire on January 20, 2010. Click here for details!

For a broader example of going the opposite direction, think about when VW Beetle first came to the U.S. with their “Think Small” campaign in 1960.

It was the era of big cars and automakers were trying to outdo themselves by building bigger and bigger cars for the American public. But the VW Beetle quickly became a blockbuster because it went in the opposite direction and even highlighted the fact it was small. This campaign was so powerful that AdAge magazine named it the #1 in it’s Top 100 Advertising Campaigns list.

#4: Move to a New Application

Many times you can create a great hook by simply taking one successful hook from one industry or place and moving it somewhere else.

A great example of this is the successful Time Shares concept I already mentioned to you and moving it to other industries. The time share concept has been successfully applied to private jets (think NetJets), exotic cars, luxury second homes, yachts, etc.

Or on a smaller level, one of my friends and former Underground® II speaker is a great example of this. John Alanis’ site is www.WomenApproachYou.com and the whole hook behind his info products is to get women to approach you instead of you having to chase them.

Great concept – however it’s not even close to original!

Both John and I would credit Dan Kennedy with being a tremendous influence in our business. And one of Dan’s most successful products is “Magnetic Marketing” – with the big idea of not chasing business but having it come to you.

See any similarities?

#5: Being First

Sometimes the most important thing you can to is simply be the first. From our example list “Time Shares”, “Club Med” and “Real World” qualify since they were the very first in their category.

If you are moving into a crowded marketplace you can actually “slice” off a piece of that market to be first. For instance, Dan Kennedy talks about his foray into helping dentists and chiropractors with their practice marketing. He would say his company was “the single biggest provider of practice building information for the dental & chiropractic profession”. And that’s because nobody else was serving both.

Or how about this one?

Hedonism (owned by SuperClubs) took the concept behind all-inclusive resorts from ClubMed and geared only towards singles or adventurous singles. But that wasn’t the end because another smart company niched the all-inclusive concept again but only for romantic couples with “Sandals” resorts.

If you start thinking about these points for creating the BIG idea or a hook – you’ll action begin to notice ideas everywhere. Plus, you’ll also see how successful products/services are in many ways take-offs on other successful concepts/ideas that came before them.

Or how about this mega moneymaking example – if you have kids you surely have heard of the Wiggles, right?

Zak likes their songs and surprisingly (or maybe not) I now know all the words to the songs on his Wiggles CD. The Wiggles have become a huge hit by following BIG idea method #4 and #5. So huge that according to Business Review Weekly magazine, The Wiggles were Australia’s highest grossing entertainers for the year 2005, earning more than AC/DC and Nicole Kidman combined.

2 of the Wiggles started off in a regular rock bank called “The Cockroaches” and had some modest success. It was only after deciding to move to a new application (#4) and being first (#5) did they have their massive success.

For moving to a new application they took their same popular rock sound and moved to kids music. Most kids music pretty much stunk but the Wiggles aren’t bad. Now moving to a new application they didn’t need to compete against tens of thousands of other hopeful musical acts trying to go big and mainstream. They went for kids and cornered the market. According to Wikipedia one of their hit songs came from reworking a few of the old Cockroaches tunes into children’s songs. For example, “Do the Monkey” was originally a Cockroaches song with different lyrics. Another Cockroaches song, “Get Ready To Wiggle”, inspired the new band’s name.

Then the other portion of the BIG idea used her was (#5) Being First. Now, they were not literally the first children’s entertainers but they took this combination of CDs, live performance, videos, and characters to develop a sticking point in the heads of little rug rats everywhere.

The more you can incorporate a BIG idea or hook into your product – the easier it’ll be to write a kick-ass sales promotion for it. It almost writes itself. The times when I’ve struggled writing copy is because I didn’t have enough of a big idea behind it.

Maverick Rule #3: You must charge a premium price so you have a large margin to provide an extraordinary value & experience.

About 2 years ago I conducted a $10,000/person workshop on “How to Sell Super High-Priced Information Products and Services” and I’ll share a few insights here…

If you boil down my biggest profit windfalls in my business (and the most astute marketers I observe) it has come down to selling premium products and services at premium prices. That’s how my business has leapfrogged from 6-figures to 7-figures and now multiple 7-figures a year!

Personally, I’ve sold everything from $5,000 workshops to $14,500.00 “Apprentice Programs” to $20,000 MasterMind groups and even a $40,000+/yr program for cosmetic surgeons.

First, let’s say you want to make an extra $1M this year – then you’d have to sell 20000 copies of your ‘doohickey’ at $50. Or it could be 2000 copies at $500. Or better still 200 copies at $5000. It’s a lot easier dealing with 200 customers than 20,000. Think of all the customer service and infrastructure, etc.

Once again before we get into the “HOW” let’s discuss the “WHY”…

Reason #1: More Profits

Okay no surprise here. When you sell for higher prices you make more profits. Very few companies have been able to sustain a “low price” position in the marketplace. Sears couldn’t. K-Mart couldn’t. And now it remains to be seen what Wal-Mart does with that position. (Actually if you study Wal-Mart you’ll notice they are bringing in some significantly high-priced, high-margin products.)

Reason #2: Better Customers

Price qualifies your customers more than you might realize. The ones that pay $7 for an ebook are going to be the ones that whine and complain the most! They’ll tax and strain your customer support team. But in comparison the customers who spend significant amounts of money are surprisingly easier to deal with and less demanding.

Think about the last time you gave free advice to someone – what happened? That’s right. Nothing. But if you had made them pay you for consulting – they would have taken it to heart.

Reason #3: Psychology of Price Works In Your Favor

This is a big one! We’ve always been taught “You get what you pay for”. It’s not uncommon for a prospective customer to discount a product or offering because it’s “too cheap”. If the price is not in line with what it should be you’d think there is something wrong.

Reason #4: Can Deliver More Value

Ultimately the value you provide will dictate the profits you receive from your customers. Increase the value and your revenues go up. By high-profit products with high-margins you have lots more wiggle room to deliver sensational value. You can really “WOW” your customers and buyers. Not only can you throw in high-value extras but you can afford to deliver truly unique unadvertised bonuses and follow-ups.

Reason #5: Some Buyers Will NOT Buy Low-Priced Items

It sounds crazy but some customers are only premium buyers. If you gave them a discount it would actually decrease the response. Plus, some customers are only comfortable buying in the high-end range. I was shocked when I discovered with my first high-priced offering. My Apprentice program was $14,500 and at the time this was head and shoulders above any other marketer.

I thought my best prospects for this program would be customers who had already bought from me and were happy. Surprisingly about half of the people in this program had *NEVER* bought anything from me before. Their comfort level was for a premium offer.

Reason #6: You Will OWN The Marketplace

I think this is the biggest reason of all…

This means you can afford to pay more to acquire a customer. This is huge! If I’m in the same marketplace and I’m competing against someone who only has $100.00 product at the end of their funnel and I have a $10,000.00 offering – there’s going to be almost no contest.  I can spend more on Pay-per-click, more on advertising, more on affiliate pay-outs, more on offline follow-up, more on testing unusual advertising places, etc..

And I can make bad results work for me. If I’m direct mailing for a high-priced product I only need a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the response for a low-priced product to make me money.

Fact is, the business owner who can spend the most to acquire a customer will WIN.

Period. End of story.

Most people are undercharging for what they provide. My rule of thumb and one of my values I look at it every morning in my planners says “I get rich by enriching others 10x – 100x what they pay me in return”.

That’s a big deal for me. If you pay me $1000 for a product – I want to make sure it delivers $10,000 in value for my customers. I suggest you consider something similar. If your product isn’t good enough for you to raise your price on it – make it better!

And that’s the first step at the “HOW” to double or triple our prices…start brainstorming the value you provide.

Step #1 – Brainstorming Additional Value

Either find a trusted advisor, work with your team (if you have one) or just grab a blank yellow legal pad and start coming up with answers. It doesn’t matter how crazy they are. Just write them all down. In fact, the rules of brainstorming should be used:

• Rule #1 – No criticism allowed (turn off your left brain)
• Rule #2 – The wilder the better…everything’s possible
• Rule #3 – Quantity
• Rule #4 – Jump off and “Plus” others ideas

You want to start with a blank slate and just “blue sky” questions like these:

• “How can I provide 10x-100x the value to my customers?”
• “What can I do that will absolutely amaze them?”
• “How can I get my customers the end-result they want on a silver platter?”
• “How can I ‘do it for them’?”

Step #2 – Your thinking

Next, setting higher prices begins inside your head. People are usually too slow to raise prices and it’s more about confidence & self-image than the actual value delivered. Get Maxwell Maltz’s book “Psycho Cybernetics” and consider your self-image. We all have self images in every single area of our life and if you are not charging a premium it’s usually more to do with what’s in-between your ears than the actual marketplace. Which brings me to my next point, never allow your competition to set your prices. Just because someone else charges $x dollars – that does not mean you have to charge similar prices. There will be always a very profitable spot for businesses at the premium scale who deliver what’s perceived as exceptional products and value.

Step #3 – Targeting the right marketplace

Another mistake I see a lot is going after markets who cannot afford to pay premium prices. There’s no reason you cannot have another division of your business go after customers who have already shown they will pay premium prices for products/services. For example, I have a giclee of a painting by Thomas Arvid in our dining room at home. I believe we paid about $2500-$3000 for this work. Now in case you are unfamiliar with the term a giclee is really just a fancy print. This one being on canvas. I can most certainly assure you there is a high margin in this piece.

Why would I and many others pay such a premium for it? Well, the artist’s originals go for $25,000 or more now (if you can even get them) and he chose a subject that buyers would pay a premium for – namely high end wines. Also, it’s a limited edition piece (something we’ll discuss in greater detail shortly.) Arvid only specializes in hyper realistic wines paintings. They are absolutely beautiful and the first time I saw his work in Carmel, CA I was blown away. (You can see for yourself at www.ThomasArvid.com) Arvid paints high-end wines like Opus One, Silver Oak, Caymus, etc.

And the people who are passionate about these high-end wines will pay a premium for wonderful art. He stumbled onto this by accident when he started painting and found that a red wine painting was snapped up immediately. Very astutely Arvid learned more about wine and which ones to paint so that customers would open up their wallets.

And the final aspects of creating a high-priced offer are the psychological ones…

We’ve talked about the psychology of scarcity previously in this post. Human beings have been hard-wired to want what is going away. Many more people are motivated by the thought of potential loss than potential gain. You see this used all the time in marketing and it works *IF* there is truth behind or we perceive there to be truth behind it. Here’s one example from a company I buy a lot of wine from that really illustrates this point (combined with ‘reason why’):

If you have trouble reading the text in the email – here’s the main part (underlining is my own):

WINE ALERT: As you probably read in the news, our friends at Silver Oak experienced a terrible fire at their winery earlier this year. At that time, there were rumors that they had lost most of their past and current vintages. Hence, the winery ceased new sales of their prized Silver Oak 2001 Alexander Valley Cabernet – - Robert Parker’s highest rated Silver Oak since renowned 1997 vintage – - to the great disappointment of thirsty collectors across America who have made this wine the #1 selling Collector Cabernet. However, today the big news is our friends at Silver Oak just found 15 more cases of this wine + several BIG bottles including an extremely rare 6L quadruple magnum (details below) safely tucked away in their private cellar and have made an exclusive offer to Porthos Insiders on a “first come, first sell” basis. These are the last cases and only big bottles of this prized vintage that will ever be available for sale so don’t miss this insiders-only offer!

Some of you know I bought the 6L quadruple magnum (that’s equivalent to 8 regular bottles). I really like Silver Oak anyway so I wouldn’t have bought this just because it was so scarce (or at least I tell myself that). I’m planning on popping this bad boy for some big celebration.

With this information the only thing stopping you from raising your price is yourself. But if you want to just try it out – you can always start small by offering a “Deluxe” or “Gold” version of your existing product/service and see what happens. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by adding some of these elements to your marketing how you can easily double or triple your prices and still provide an incredible value.

Okay that wraps up part 2 – part 3 will cover creating your own MasterMind group and authentic connections, leave a comment and let me know what you think.

* * * *

** Update**

You can now download this series of blog posts (and the other posts they refer to) here. http://www.surefiremarketing.com/decade/

When the clock strikes midnight this New Year’s it’ll mark the 10^th year I’ve been in business online. I’ve been taking stock of my accomplishments, lessons learned and what I’ve done in the span of 10 years.

Here’s a glimpse at part of my list…

Personal Accomplishments:

• 2 incredible kids (Zak & Zoe)
• Freedom to work at home to see the kids grow up, take them to school any day or go on their field trips or special events without worrying about it.
• Married to an encouraging, supportive and flexible wife. (Thanks Missy!)
• Millionaire before the age of 31
• “Officially” a pro beach volleyball player

Impact:

• Helped raise over $500,000.00 for Virgin Unite to start a Young Entrepreneurship program in the U.S.
• Directly donated another $500,000.00+ to charities including Caring House Foundation, Tony Hawk Foundation, Village Enterprise Fund, etc.
• Helped thousands of people get their own Internet business and improve their lives and financial situation.

Adventure:

• #144 to go into Space with Virgin Galactic
• Ran with the Bulls in Spain
• Baja racing 3x
• PlayersRun Road Rally dressed as Elvis
• HALO Skydive
• Scuba diving between tectonic plates in Iceland
• Celebrity hockey game with NHL Pros and Gordie Howe
• Rafting the Gauley River
• Bungee 440 feet in New Zealand
• Drove a Lambo 200mph+ (in a green speedo)

Business Accomplishments:

• “Real” book ‘Moonlighting on the Internet’ published by Entrepreneur Press in 3^rd printing
• Sold out the Underground® Seminar weeks early (for the last 5 years)
• Have over 5 different products that have eclipsed $1,000,000 in gross sales.
• Run two sold-out, high-level MasterMind groups
• Spent time with and interviewed Sir Richard Branson, Jesse James, Tony Hawk, John Paul DeJoria, Frank McKinney, Chip Conley, Carl Banks, etc.
• Appeared or featured in INC, Business 2.0, Fox Business News, Portfolio.com, TIME, Entrepreneur, Outside’s GO magazine, American Way, TechCrunch,  USA Today, Denver Business Journal, Boston Globe, Millionaire Blue Prints, Forbes.com, LA Times, Financial Times, Portfolio.com, etc.
• Set the biggest goal of my life of getting 1,000,000 young entrepreneurs (aged 13-23) to start their own businesses by 2020.

Your Own List

Side note: I would strongly suggest you compile your own “Best of the decade” list of how far you’ve come. I’ve also been a big fan of using the power of gratitude but I heard this another way from Dan Sullivan of Strategic Coach. He has a theory of people being disappointed because they cannot reach their “ideal”.

Dan gives the example of the horizon. We all know it’s silly to think we can ever reach the horizon because it keeps moving as we move closer to it. Same with an “ideal”. We feel despondent and maybe even depressed in our greatest victories if we attempt to measure them up to our ultimate ideals. But the people who are happiest are the ones of take stock of where they are today (Point B) than when they started (Point A). And we can all look back and gain that confidence and awe of how far we’ve come.

Okay fair warning, this is going to be quite a long post but I promise it’ll be filled with some serious insights for you. (In fact, I think there will be so many prominent and buried lessons here that I’m willing to put up a little bit of a prize for the best ‘lesson detectives’ – more details at the end of the post.)

To set the stage, Jan 1, 2000 when this decade started, I was in a 1-bedroom apartment and was engaged to Missy. I didn’t have a website and I barely had an email address.

That same month was when I got an idea at 3 o’clock in the morning and woke Missy up to tell her about InstantSalesLetters.com. (She wasn’t happy!) And then I did what most people probably wouldn’t: I hopped out of bed, registered the domain and got to work on it. By February 2000, with about $1,500 invested, I made my first $29.95 sale. It was one of the most amazing feelings in the world to take an idea and have it turn into cash. And the sales kept coming – about $1,800 the first month…then $3,400…then approx. $7,800.00 and roughly $9,400.00 the fourth month out of the gate. I was on track to hit six-figures with my very first site – and that’s when things really started exploding.

As people started hearing about my success, I was invited to speak at my first Online marketing conference and I started helping others take their interests, passions, hobbies, etc. and create online oil wells.

The unusual way to ‘stumble’ onto success…

There’s a profound theory I heard from R. Buckminster Fuller that says your true success is found perpendicular along the path to your original perceived goal.  Instant Sales Letters is a perfect example because my original end goal was to sell it for $500k to Stamps.com or someone like that. But on my way to building up that site – I had so many people ask me how I started making money so quickly that I began teaching. And that teaching became part of my “accidental” success path for the last 8 years, opening up one door after another. I would never have got on that track unless I was moving towards the original goal.  And it’s the same thing today – the next chapter in my life is with my Maverick Business Adventures® and Maverick Business Insider companies – which wouldn’t have been formed without the contacts, connections and success delivered from my Internet business.

Starting with the Fundamentals

It’s easy to look back and see my somewhat meteoric rise with Instant Sales Letters and laud it as being an “overnight success”. Not exactly true. Before this decade started I had been preparing and studying direct response fundamentals, inner success laws and psychology.

One of my biggest mentors is Earl Nightingale. He passed away several years ago but you can and need to get everything he recorded at Nightingale.com.  He has a program called “Lead The Field” and “The Strangest Secret”. I learned from Earl Nightingale that if you want to be an expert, you spend an hour a day reading or studying on whatever subject that you’re interested in for 3 years. Or if you want to world-class expert you ready or study for 1-hour a day for 5 years.

So I said, “Well, what would happen if I read for two or three hours a day?”

I just started learning as much as I possibly could around these subjects.  Let’s cover a few here since I really believe the fundamentals never change.

When I first really started this blog I created a series of posts around the 9 ‘inner secrets’ to success. Those are worth re-visiting:

Inner Success Secret #1: Cheerful Expectancy

Inner Success Secret #2: Set your Plan

Inner Success Secret #3: Do One Proactive Thing a Day

Inner Success Secret #4: Deliver Exceptional Value

Inner Success Secret #5: Build on Your Successes

Inner Success Secret #6: Decision

Inner Success Secret #7: Continual Learning

Inner Success Secret #8: Gratitude

Inner Success Secret #9: Giving

Direct response

I would have to say figuring out and learning about direct response has been one of the biggest paradigm shifts for me. Since we’re heading down memory lane, I have to take the story back well beyond this decade to the bi-centennial.

My family is from Russia and immigrated to the U.S. in 1976. My Dad came over with $256 in his pocket for me, my Mom and my Grandmother. Just a year and half later, my Dad started his own company repairing (and then later selling) medical equipment.

I grew up working in the business starting with telemarketing latex gloves at age 14, and then even selling medical equipment to docs in person at age 16 when I got my license. At the time, I thought this totally sucked! My friends were living at the beach having a great time and I was spending my summers pedaling X-ray film and EKG machines. You can definitely look back and see significant turning points in your life, and one of my mine came when a doctor client of mine, Dr. Nathan Wei, gave me a Jay Abraham tape that turned on “the lights” about direct response marketing. I was about 18 or 19 at the time and I basically devoured it.

I loved the fact that I didn’t have to deal with rejection anymore in person and the incredible leverage of ‘knocking’ on tends of thousands of doors and only speaking to interested people. It was endlessly fascinating to me to realize you could write something in an ad or letter (now a website) and have people open up their wallets or raise their hands.

From Jay Abraham I learned to think broadly about how to leverage businesses. From there I found Ted Nicholas. Ted Nicholas is a true gentleman in the direct response world and I found his teachings just as he was transitioning out of his newsletter. I ended up buying all the back issues and previous products. (Actually I remember about 1 or 2 years later writing a note to Ted about our shared immigrant background and how much his teachings had meant to me – Ted responded back to me personally from Switzerland.)

At the same time I was studying Ted, I got a direct mail piece from some guy named “Dan Kennedy”. Dan truly changed my life. He is probably one of 3 people I credit with helping me achieve financial independence at such a young age. I went on to pay a small fortune for his manuals, books, audios, seminars and personal guidance.

I continued learning from direct marketing and copywriting masters who came before me; people like Gary Halbert, John Caples, David Ogilvy, Bob Stone and Joe Sugarman. (BTW – Joe is our business icon guest for the next Maverick Baja adventure.) From there I might find a random reference to someone in a manual or book and immediately look them up, which lead to more influences and original sources. I loved digging through the past to the beginning of mail order since those guys had to truly persuade people without the benefit of instant ordering via phone, fax, online, etc. Their customers had to slog to the post office to place their order. Greats like Claude Hopkins, John E. Kennedy and Maxwell Sackheim. And then I went back even further to find obscure (and extremely rare texts) like “Printed Salesmanship” by Robert Ruxton.

Obviously there is a long history of direct response, but if you boil it all down it comes to:

• An offer (ideally with a deadline)
• A way to respond/call to action (fax, phone, online, etc)
• Measurement of response

A basic example is one I told to a dentist friend of mine. I explained to him a little bit about direct response marketing while playing volleyball together in Turks & Caicos. I told him to mail his patients with an offer; in his case it was raw materials for crowns. The cost had gone up significantly and he would have to raise his price. Because he valued his patients he would give them a window to get any crowns or dental work done at the old price until X date. They had to bring the letter in to get the special. That’s it, pretty basic. And that worked spectacularly, creating his best month ever.

With the web – nearly everything can be measured and quick test results achieved. That’s part of what makes this one of the most incredible times to be around. I definitely believe a true direct response fundamental is a key to understanding the Web. I got my chops by writing ads for my dad’s business, attempting to sell medical equipment that we only previously sold face-to-face and toes-to-toes. My dad would look at the ads I created and say, “Who’s going to read all that?” I had to persuade him to let me try it and see what happened. Quite frankly, it was a revolution in the way we could sell because we had now expanded our reach nation-wide and I only spoke to doctors who were extremely interested in a product (for a demo) or who actually whipped out their credit cards to buy. Here’s one of my original ads:

Understanding Marketing Psychology

And then the next fundamental I stress deals with psychology. I was a marketing major and got my B.S. from the University of Maryland (a top 25 business school when I graduated), but I always say I didn’t learn much in college except partying. All my real marketing insights and knowledge came from self-study and trying things myself. In fact, if I had to do it all over again I probably would be a psychology major. To me, it’s fascinating what motivates people to take action or buy.

One of my first exposures to how powerful this could be was a book written by a professor at Arizona State University, Dr. Robert Cialdini. His book “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” is definitely a top 10 book for me. I’ve read this book at least 9 times and continue to find amazing insights each time I do. Joe Sugarman also has a great book on psychology called “Triggers” where he has a slightly different take.

I uploaded a special presentation for you on the 11 Hidden Psychological Hot Buttons to Create Maximum Sales for you. (Please use this material and information ethically!)

The final thing I’ll mention about fundamentals came after meeting one of my entrepreneurial heroes, Sir Richard Branson. I was so inspired that on the plane ride home I started jotting down a list of “rules” and got to 34. I called it “34 Rules for Maverick Entrepreneurs” and it received a ton of excitement. And then it became been the catalyst for a lot of things, including a print book by the same title.

“Maverick Entrepreneurial Philosophy” of Make More, Have More Fun and Give More!

I realized this blog post was going to be a really, really long post so I’m breaking this up into several days – plus a lot of people suggested I put into a PDF. So good news – at the end of this series, I’ll bundle it all up into a neat little PDF with a bow. (Be sure to subscribe to our RSS feed or provide your email address in the upper right-hand corner to be notified when each new section is up on the blog.)

* Update: We just completed the PDF of all 5 parts. Download it here *

Part 2 will start where a lot of people believe they need the most help in these interconnecting circles… Make More

I’ve been on a bit of a whirlwind West Coast tour. First stop was Vegas for my buddy Andy Jenkins’ bachelor party. It was great to see some of my Internet pals like Jeff Walker, Frank Kern, John Reese and Mike Filsaime for a quick 24 hours. The funny thing is that this wasn’t a wild party like the movie “Hangover”. It was somewhat tame – just hanging in Jenkins’ suite with good friends and telling stories. (Shhh…don’t tell anyone!)

Since I got in pretty early and I knew the other guys would be sleeping – I rented a car and heading off the Agassi Prep Academy out to a pretty rough section of Vegas beyond the strip.

A few weeks before for our Maverick ‘Sky’s the Limit’ adventure we brought in Ben Sayeski, Chief Education Officer and Darian Borowiak, Director of Development for the Andre Agassi Foundation for Education. They really go into our “Hook Me Up, Yo” business session, with Ben even wearing the infamous clock when explaining what the school does.

We asked them to compile a list of questions from the kids about entrepreneurship. Then we had Maverick members roundtable the discussion and provide some real-world insights from success business owners. I came bearing the DVD recording and to get an inside glimpse at what the school was doing.

Agassi Prep (www.agassiprep.org) works with children K-12 in an underprivileged area to get them into college. Last year was the very first year they graduated a senior class and I was excited to learn about a 100% success rate for getting into college. I’m a huge advocate of education that’s done in an inspiring way with real results. I popped my head into one classroom taught by Prof Russell Andrews-EL and it was just awesome the way the kids were on the ground spread out learning Trig with whiteboards. He tried to create a similar environment to college, with less structure and without the formal desks.

One of my favorite structures at the school is the bridge that Seniors get to cross after graduation. It symbolizes a transition from high school to college – only graduating seniors have this privilege. At the end of the bridge is a turnabout and that’s where the graduates write notes back to the next class behind them. I love the symbolism this ritual invokes.

I love the symbolism of this bridge

After touring the school and seeing what is going on there, I’m hoping the Maverick members will come back to do a guest lecture on entrepreneurship in the near future and work to mentor some of the kids there.

Regardless, I still only got about 2 hours sleep before flying out to Park City, UT. That was the site of our Maverick team’s strategic retreat. More on that in a minute because I want to share our “Painted Picture” for 2012 and give you some insights into what I’ve learned this year about creating an exceptional organization.

But before we get there, I want to share some pics from my final West Coast destination, the Mojave desert. Last Monday was a truly historic event with the unveiling of Virgin Galactic’s VSS Enterprise rocket ship, the first commercial space vehicle.

As you might know, I’m #144 on the list to go into space with Virgin Galactic. This is a significant milestone with flight-testing starting on the rocket immediately. The best estimates are mid to late 2011 for the first flight (and I’ve approximated I’m flight #26 if all goes well).

Rolling into Scaled Composite’s HQ in Mojave I was hoping the weather would cooperate since it had rained for a full 2 hours on the ride up from LA. I thought it was a good sign when I saw SpaceShip 1 with a rainbow behind it. (Note: SpaceShip 1 was the first commercial spacecraft to go into space twice in 2 weeks and win the $10M X Prize. This is the technology Virgin Galactic licensed.)

Over 800 future astronauts, VIPs, dignitaries and politicians came in for this historic event, including Governor Schwarzenegger and Governor Richardson from New Mexico.

Check out the name badge I got – probably one of the coolest ones I’ve seen:

They told us it was the coldest day in the Mojave – there were wind gusts of wind 70-80mph. It was a good thing they gave everyone some nice jackets – but that still didn’t really keep up warm enough. But who cares? It was amazing seeing SpaceShip 2 come down the runway. They had a pretty major light show with music going to set the scene.

Here’s the first glimpse I got of the craft:

And here I am in front of SpaceShip 2 looking pretty frickin cold!

Here’s a little video of the unveil including Governors Schwarzenegger and Richardson breaking champagne bottles to christen the ship. (I was a tiny bit worried about them breaking bottles on it.)

The party started immediately after the unveiling in some really cool tents and lounges they had set up for the night – they even had an ice bar with glasses made out of ice.

Everything was perfectly choreographed – except for the weather. I’m sure they weren’t expecting the hurricane-type winds we got. In fact, they shut the party down early at 7:30 and immediately cleared everyone to the busses to get us back to LA. It’s a good thing too, since I heard later the press tent and the other party tents blew down. Crazy!

I actually ended up sitting on the bus next to Dr. Peter Diamandis, the founder of the X-Prize and one of our previous Maverick Business Adventures® guests. I love talking to Peter and hearing what he’s up to. The guy is such a big-thinker and visionary. He’s involved in creating a NASCAR-like Rocket racing league and was showing me the first version of the iPhone video game they’ve got out.

When we got back to LA, me and about 10 other Virgin Galactic party-goers made the most of it and hung out at the SkyBar at the Mondrian talking about the future of Space flight.

Back to The Future

It’s a pretty amazing time to be alive when you can actually go into space as a tourist and not be limited to a government space program. As I mentioned, I think 2012 is what I’m anticipating for my flight – and that’s a year I’ve been giving a lot of thought around.

No, not because I think the world is coming to an end or anything like that. But because I’ve been working on our company’s “Painted Picture” for 2012 with my business coach Cameron Herold’s help. Cameron is the former COO of 1-800-Got Junk and helped build that company from about $2M – $100M using this concept of the painted picture.

The way this concept started was taking the same methods Olympic athletes use to visualize their performance and applying them to a business being built. Brian Scudamore, the founder of 1-800-Got Junk, sat down on his parents dock when they were a $1.5M company and wrote out what the future would look like.

Cameron was the guy to execute it. I’d been working with Cameron for several months and he kept bugging me to get this done and I kept putting him off – until he finally backed me into a corner to commit. (Side note: Cameron is an amazing coach and speaker. If you have a fast-growing company you owe it to your business to pick-up his DVDs before he realizes what he’s doing and starts marking them up.)

I felt like I’d found my “Cameron” when we made our first major hire in Andrew Way. He’s officially our VP of Operations and has the task of taking our Painted Picture and figuring out the “How”. We’ve got some big plans for the next 3 years to grow the Maverick brand and merge what we’ve been doing with other companies.

Quite frankly, the last 2 years have been a serious transition from simply being essentially a “one-man” band to working on growing an exceptional organization. Many times I’ve felt like I’ve taken 2 steps backwards for every step forward (and maybe more than 2 steps backwards) but we’ve kept pushing – because we’re building something beyond just an info product or two.

In fact, a lot of my thinking has evolved based on the kind of impact we really want to have. I would never have believed 10 years ago that company values or a mission statement mattered. I thought stuff like that was all bullshit.

I mean, look at a company like Enron and their mission statement – including typical phony corporate-speak words like “Respect, Integrity, Communication and Excellence”. Obviously a crock. But when I started hanging out and learning from Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com, I saw there was a difference in what he talked about and that he actually meant it. He keynoted our last 2 Underground seminars. He really harped on values and how they incorporate their 10 core values into everything they do, including hiring, firing and promoting based on those values. (Btw – if you want to check out a free video of Tony keynoting Underground 4 – you can view it here.)

That helped form our “DNA” and core philosophies –

Or reading books like “Peak” written by Chip Conley, CEO of Joie de Vivre Hospitality group in San Francisco -  that got me thinking about what we’re doing for our team members and customers/members beyond satisfying normal needs. We’re now moving to the top of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

We’ve also starting using Kolbe profiling to figure what our team’s natural connotative ability is. It helps to figure out how people instinctively approach a project or a problem. I’m a 4-2-10-2, which is “Explain, Adapt, Improvise, Imagine”. My score reveals why I’m quick to jump on a project because I’m a 10 in the “Quick Start” category – that’s off the charts. And it also reveals why I do so many mindmaps and diagrams when trying to get my point across. (That last number – “2” – means I’m high in imagination and don’t need a concrete model of something.) There are no right or wrongs for Kolbe profiles – it’s simply what you are. (It’s worth trying it yourself, and possibly doing it for your whole team.)

That’s also gone hand-in-hand with the work I’ve been doing at Strategic Coach, created by Dan Sullivan. (Btw – his Unique Ability book is one of my favorite books out there.)

As the saying goes, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” And that was the case for me, with additional insights formed by the book “Tribal Leadership” by Dave Logan, John King and Halee Fischer-Wright, about building incredible company cultures and evolving to a “Stage V” company. One of the biggest shifts from a typical company to an extraordinary one was having a huge mission that everyone on the team knows and can get behind. This leads to a real powerful change of direction, intention and motivation.

One famous example is Microsoft’s original goal of “A computer on every desk and in every home.” When you create a big vision or goal like that – you’ll find people getting on your team to help achieve it. My friend, Tellman Knudson, has set the goal of raising $100M by running across the country barefoot. I think that fits the bill – and he’s partway through right now.

Our company’s 2020 goal is 3-fold:

There’s been lots of thinking, prioritizing and culling from what and where I believe our companies are heading for 2012 and beyond. I created a graphic to represent the big picture of the impact we want to have in each area of an entrepreneur’s lifecycle, from Start-Up to Growth to Legacy.

I’m really excited to share the Painted Picture with you because, quite frankly, I need all the help I can get to reach our ultimate 2020 goals. You can download the PDF here.

I’ve already shared this with our team and I’ll be sharing it with all of our key suppliers, partners and people I meet. Lots of big things in store for 2010 and beyond. If you’d like to be part of this or have a thought on what we’re doing please leave a comment below!

Will you do me a favor?

I’ve asked my friend, Gary Vaynerchuk, to keynote the upcoming Underground 6 seminar in March. But the rub is that it’s the same weekend as SXSW in Austin – where he’s also supposed to be speaking.

So to make it worth his while, we made a little bet…

The deal is if I move 500 copies of his book “Crush It“  he would change his schedule and come down to DC.

So why do you care?

Good question.

As you should know from older posts here, I’m not above ethical bribery to make it worth your while and help me win the bet.

There are 3 ways you can help. And at the same time, I’m going to do some cool stuff for you. Please watch this 4 min video explaining the bet.

BTW – if you don’t know who Gary Vaynerchuk is, he made a name for himself with WineLibraryTV.com, which at last count had 90,000+ viewers tuning into his daily wine rants. But more than that, he’s become a hallmark for personal branding and using Web 2.0 to really connect to your audience in a big way. The guy is pretty incredible!

(Update: Way #1 is complete so I need your help with way #2 and #3)

One more thing, my buddy, Jeff Johnson released some killer Word Press software right here. If you’ve got a WP blog  – you’ll want to check this out. (Oh, did I mention it’s a freebie too?)

We’re going to be using for our blogs too.

http://www.SurefireMarketing.com/wpsoftware

A few weeks ago we held our ‘Totally Rad 80’s Maverick Road Rally’ heading from LA to Napa. Starting with getting pink hair, the Mavericks really got into the spirit of the 80’s and helped to support Breast Cancer Awareness month. Here’s the photo that made the “Picture of the Day” in the LA Times blog:

Actually our little entourage made the front page of TechCrunch.com after the event. Click here for the full story.

The first evening Paul Mitchell students styled up our hair with all sorts of pink Mohawks, tails, ‘Fu-Manchu’s’, coiffed mullets and more! Plus, we had the Variety Boys and Girls club kids there who got into too. Here are the kids and members with the totally must-have 80’s accessory – a DeLorean:

(Random gross fact here: I was rocking the Don Johnson/Miami Vice look the first day and I bought my white shoes on eBay. If you look closely I’ve got no socks on!)

Our special business icon guest was billionaire John Paul DeJoria, who holds the rank of #261 on Forbes list of World’s Richest with an estimated $2.5B net worth. He told his story of how went from homeless to billionaire. Looking at this candid pic you’d think I was the homeless one – but this was the ‘flock of seagulls’ look for day 2.

I took quite a few notes during John Paul’s presentation. And one of the things I wrote down that really stood out for me was when he talked about how having no money makes you creative. I firmly believe that.  J.P. talked about he had a pending deadline to pay his printer for the shampoo bottles they just screened – so he went knocking on doors. He made 12 orders giving the salon owners better-than-risk-free offers. Then he drove to a big distributor, showed them the 12 checks and said, “Here are your first 12 orders.” Proof, right?

Then, he asked the distributor if he could get paid upfront for the product if he gave a 5% discount. They agreed. Then 5 minutes later he pulled around the back of the building, made the delivery and asked for the check. It was brilliant!

But that kind of creativity wouldn’t work unless you’ve got the absolute best product.  J.P. continually harped on this, from the shampoo business to Patron tequila. He has a quote, “You want to be in the reorder business”. Think about it. It’s possible to make the initial sale but it’s the reorder that will make you rich.

And guess what….even after J.P. was a billionaire and started the Patron tequila company with a friend, he still started small. He didn’t invest millions into the project – they bought 1,000 cases to test it out. And he still totally believes in making his product the absolute best. He told us how he spends significantly more to buy the very best agave plants that go into his tequila. And he was always thinking just a bit different. To get distribution he couldn’t use a regular liquor distributor because they wouldn’t talk to him and the notion of competing against Cuervo was ridiculous. So he decided to go to beer and wine distributors since they call on the exact same customers. Smart.

John Paul was such an inspirational guest and he told everyone he changed his schedule just to be with us – that was really humbling. After saying our goodbyes it was time to hit the open road. All the Mavericks drew partners and cars. The range of cars were classics like ’67 Vettes to Aston Martin and Lambo convertibles all decked out in Rubik’s Cube stickers and 80’s fun.

Part of the Road Rally involved shooting “video missions” for points. There were some pretty funny 80’s related missions. Everything from “Preach the gospel as an 80’s character” to “High-five a biker at a stop sign”. Lots and lots of silly video was collected (as you might imagine from these pics).

The guys driving the Lamborghini had obligatory custom headwear. Here’s Mike Koenigs, founder of Traffic Geyser, at the helm and Mike Hill, CPA Tsunami, co-piloting.

A pretty cool highlight of day two was riding in one of only 3 Zeppelins in the world. I kept badgering the pilot to let me sit in the co-pilot seat and I finally got my wish (though we were on the ground).

From the Zeppelin tour we headed to downtown San Francisco to meet up with Chip Conley, the CEO of Joie De Vivre, a boutique hotel group in CA. Chip is a really incredible guy and author of one of my favorite recent business books, “PEAK”. I strongly suggest you get it to see how you can incorporate Maslow’s hierarchy of needs into your business ventures. And if you have a chance in CA – stay in one of his properties. Hotel Vitale in SF is where we stayed and the Ventanna Inn is his as well.

Then after dinner the 80’s party really started. Full-on 80’s regalia came out for our night out! My buddies Jonathan Mizel and Tim Ferriss met us out to enjoy the evening. Here’s a tiny glimpse at the 80’s madness:

Giving Back to Young Entrepreneurs

The next morning we spent time with a group of aspiring young entrepreneurs from the Bay Area providing real-world advice and brainstorming their business ideas. All part of the Maverick mission to have 1,000,000 young entrepreneurs from ages 13-23 start their own businesses. Here’s Maverick Member Mike Hill and Mo Alkady brainstorming with kids on their ideas before they present in front of the group –

My favorite part about the session was showing up “regular” and then throwing out wristbands and 80’s glasses for the group to wear. I told them sometimes you have to get out of your comfort zone to be an entrepreneur!

And here’s the winner of our $500 in start-up funding – their idea was to do video tours of Bed & Breakfasts around the Bay Area as a ‘best practices’ association to other B&Bs. (Yes, I’m rockin the mullet wig and rainbow wristbands!)

And finally we headed to Napa from San Francisco and enjoyed an ultra-exclusive cave tasting dinner.

It was incredibly cool. Not only because of the wines they poured – the absolute best ‘cult’ wines in Napa from Screaming Eagle ($1700/bottle) to Colgin and Peter Michael – but because dinner was actually inside the cave. The acoustics in that place were completely nuts. It was hard to hear the person directly in front of you but you could plainly pick-up the conversation on the other end of a 22-person table. I don’t know if they were quite ready for us and knew what to expect but they rolled with it. Here’s Hal Oates from Porthos.com pouring a bit of Screaming Eagle down my gullet.

Now of course, hanging with one billionaire is never enough.

So about 2 weeks after the Road Rally I headed back to Los Angeles for a private brainstorming lunch with Virgin billionaire Sir Richard Branson. This was a small group of about a dozen entrepreneurs organized by my buddy, Joe Polish. There were 3 or 4  Maverick members part of this free-form discussion with Richard asking him questions. As I’ve mentioned before, Richard is one of my business heroes and I’ve been fortunate to spend time with him on Necker Island but I always walk away with a new distinction.

Building an Empire

This time somebody at the table asked him about his 300+ companies and how they inter-relate. He explained that at first he didn’t go in 100 different directions but that it started from a natural ‘evolution’. His record store created the notion of a record company and that gave way to merchandizing for the artists and then management. Followed by distribution and even operating the venues. He said you need a natural reason to expand the brand early on and to make sure when you leave you don’t leave the company damaged by your departure.

That made a lot of sense about naturally building and expanding instead of trying to start-up a couple dozen, unrelated products/services – no matter how much my ADD wants to.

You might get a kick out of this picture because if you look closely and zoom in I was caught doodling while listening to Branson. (Though in my defense I’ve read studies that you take in 28% more info when you doodle.)

Saving Pumpkins

After lunch I had a little bit of spare time so I set out to find something interesting to wear for the Rock the Kasbah black-tie charity gala going on that evening for Virgin Unite. I ended up in a pretty odd area of LA with 2 other Maverick members, Craig Handley and Tony Riccardi.

I knew I was on the right track when I saw a sign advertising “Tuxedos $129.99”. Awesome! I went in and asked for the oddest vests and tie sets they had and got a bright orange number. Perfect! We each bought one and I had to get one for my buddy, Joe Polish, to make sure he would be utterly embarrassed.

Here’s the two of us looking dapper:

I went around telling people I met that I was trying to raise awareness for pumpkins and every time you carve a jack-o-lantern you kill a pumpkin. I think some people even believed me until I told them it was a joke. The other story was my dad was a construction worker and that this was an homage to him.

We had an upfront and center VIP table to see performances by Estelle, Gavin Rossdale (from Bush) and Natasha Bedingfield.

Prettty cool. There were even a couple celebs in attendance, from Lindsay Lohan to Paula Abdul to Sharon Stone. But more exciting for me was seeing some of my business colleagues and meeting business icons like George Zimmer, Men’s Warehouse founder and CEO.

It was quite an event with all proceeds going to support Virgin Unite and Richard’s mother, Eve’s, initiatives teaching girls in Morocco. My buddy Dean Graziosi and online marketer, Russell Brunson, both generously opened their wallets to bid on naming one of the Virgin America Planes.

Halloween

I got home and Zak was ready, psyched and totally set for Halloween. Now that he’s 4 years old he definitely gets the concept of knocking on doors and getting candy. Not much creativity on his part for a costume though – he went with last year’s Thomas the Train outfit. But he still loves Thomas so I guess that’s fair. This time Zak was accompanied by his little 2-year old sister, Zoe, in her princess outfit.

Last year Zo-zo’s didn’t last very long in her giraffe outfit and crawled upstairs to go to bed – but this year she made a valiant effort of hitting about 6 houses before we carried her home. Zak loved trick-or-treating but I think he got the biggest kick when he came home and started giving out candy to all the kids coming to our door. And there were a bunch of them. Here’s a pic showing just how much candy I bought so I could be prepared. (Last year I had almost as much and I ran out.)

I swear they bus kids into our neighborhood or something. They come in packs like little jackals but Zak loved it. Here’s a quick 2-minute video I show of the little dude giving out candy. He would yell out the door, “Who wants trick or treat?” like that would get more kids to come to our door. You’ll get a kick out of this video:

I’m always amazed at how many people say they don’t have a good idea for a business. I truly believe everyone has at least one (probably multiple) million-dollar ideas – it’s just doing something about it.

I love reading all sorts of different sites, magazines, etc. And sometimes ideas just pop out at me and I can’t do anything with all of them so here’s one I saw the other day that I think has great potential…

Inside Game Informer magazine they had a feature piece about how the company behind Rock Band, Harmonix, is now going to release something called “Rock Band Network“.  And what this will do is give individual bands, publishers and artists the tools needed to create Rock Band tracks and sell them through Xbox live. Now you don’t need to be a Green Day to get your music out to the legions of fans who are looking for more tracks to play.

If you read the article I scanned for you (below) it gives a good account of why this was created thanks to a backlog of bands wanted to get into the game (read: demand). And they wanted to get into the game because they were seeing massive upswings in music sales once they hit in there.

The other interesting thing you’ll read about in the article is the amount of work required to make your band’s track into the game is “not trivial”. That’s good news as I’ll explain in a sec.

So here’s the idea…drum roll please…

“Done for Them Service for Bands, Musicians and Artists”

Now let’s give our new fledgling business a cool name – I dunno – how about “Rock Starmakers 2.0″? I’m sure you can do better but we’ll go with it for now.

If you are into RockBand and into music – this might be the perfect idea for you. I really think this would crush it since we already talked about the demand and the fact it’s pretty difficult for a novice to do this on their own. Now this does have some downfalls – namely there isn’t that much leverage in it since you are trading time for money – but I’ll fix that in a second.

Basic offer – $xxx for getting your track into Xbox Live and playable on Rockband.

If you want to jazz up the deal and give yourself a little more leverage I’d add a success bonus. Rockband Network is set to pay out 30% of every dollar they receive – so why couldn’t your agreement also state that you get X% of every payout. Just like a music publisher or record label. I’d suggest you collect the money and provide a monthly deposit to your artists (but that’s up to you and I’m not an attorney, nor do I play one on TV.)

If I were making a bet, any band or artist that had a few bucks and realized the millions of people who play Rock Band would be all over this deal. And the element of scarcity you add is that you work with bands/artists on a first-reserved, first created studio slot based on payment. I bet for zero bucks and just some time connecting with bands on MySpace you could have a dozen customers lined up immediately! Make sure you take into account all the fees required to get the track approved and your time before you set a price.

Let’s go back to your time involved. Initially you’ll probably want to do this yourself unless you have extra funds immediately. If that’s the case, outsource the work now or as soon as you can. Free yourself up to do the marketing.

Joint Venture and Partners:

Next, you’ll want to start thinking about where you can find indie bands and artists who’d lust after being in the game. I already mentioned MySpace and that’s probably the first stop. But soon after, I’d start looking for and approaching joint venture partners once you have some case studies and success stories. Think of all the places bands and artists gather or find one central entity that has some affinity with them…or better still someone who has more to gain than you. The perfect partner would be a site like CDBaby.com.

Think about it. Getting your music in a hot game significantly increases downloads and purchases, so CDBaby.com has something to gain by promoting you to their base. What’s more, if you work out a fair affiliate relationship they might be even happier. I know there are dozens and dozens of sites that have a relationship with artists and it’s up to you to make it ‘brain dead’ simple for them to partner with you. Or think about working with musician stores in your area. I bet they’d be all over promoting this.

What’s more, now we start considering other services to sell to our customers. Maybe you start with a $xxx promotion package that gets the word out once their song hits Rock Band. Maybe there’s MySpace mgmt, Twitter mgmt, Facebook – all their Web 2.0 social media tools. And there’s all sorts of other back-end services that will start popping up that you can deliver or you can partner with someone else to deliver. Or maybe you also put your bands and artists on a continuity program so that they get X amount of songs per month submitted automatically. I mean – the ideas are truly endless.

But I’m not done yet making this into a really nice empire. Let’s say by this point our “Rock Starmaker 2.0″ business is going along at a nice clip – now it’s time to leverage again. You could license your concept, systems, marketing plans like a “business in a box” to people around the world or perhaps even start selling franchises.

All of this from a tiny little article and about 10 minutes of my time thinking about it. Still think there are no good ideas out there? Phooey…

I truly hope somebody (or multiple people) run with this. Please keep me posted.

If you’ve been a reader here for awhile you know our 2020 goal is have 1,000,000 young entrepreneurs start their own businesses – and I’m thinking part of that will be an online area that includes an “idea bank” like this.

Please drop me a comment and let me know what you think.

Look, even if you don’t “swipe” this idea – I hope you paid attention to the thinking of it. With every new advance in technology there’s a place for a “done for them” service. And if there’s a way to leverage it like the ‘certification’ or ‘licensing’ model all the better. Plus, I hope you noticed how I surveyed the marketplace landscape for partners and joint ventures. All of this adds to the power of starting something quickly and seeing what happens.

Also, I’ve got a lot of fun stories and pictures to add from our Maverick Totally Rad 80′s Road Rally last week that you’ll see here soon.

I got some cool updates from some of our 10 scholarship winners at the Underground Online Seminar® 5 – but before I get there here’s what nudged me to write this up…

Tomorrow, I’m off on our Maverick Business Adventures® Totally Rad 80′s Road Rally from LA to Napa. (Follow me on Twitter @yaniksilver) for some random pics and observations along the way.) There’s going to be some great footage from it because it’s a video scavenger hunt with teams competing for cheesy 80′s prizes.

Our celebrity business icon guest is John Paul DeJoria, who holds the rank of #261 on Forbes list of World’s Richest with an estimated $2.5B net worth. He’s the co-founder of John Paul Mitchell Hair Care Systems and Patron Spirits Company, however he started with incredibly modest beginnings – even finding himself homeless at times. We are contributing to the Boys and Girls Club of Echo Park, CA in his name. Plus, with October being Breast Cancer Awareness month we are also contributing to another charity John Paul supports, which is Cancer Schmancer started by comedienne, Fran Drescher.

If you’d like some of the priceless info from our Maverick Business Adventures® members – we’ve set up a donation page here. For a $50 donation you get exclusive audio plus some “blackmail” pics to boot!

I’ll be around interviewing a few Maverick members about business topics, tactics and secrets while they’re getting their mullets coiffed. John Paul has a personal philosophy of “success unshared is failure” and this echoes MBA’s commitment to always pay it forward to the communities we visit. From the charitable donations to actually taking the time out from every adventure to teach and mentor young & aspiring entrepreneurs around us. (Note: if you’re around the San Francisco area – this Saturday, Oct 3^rd we have our next free Young Entrepreneur session.)

All of this is part of our 2020 mission -

“To have 1,000,000 Young entrepreneurs, between the ages of 13-23, impacted, engaged and mentored to create their own business start-up.”

I get so excited thinking about the Golden Opportunity, for truly anyone, to get going with their own thing now – but I really feel the most passion around young entrepreneurs. There’s such a low cost of getting started, tons of tools & resources to help you and some gumption.

If you’ve read the book “Micro Trends” by political strategist Mark Penn, there is a trend he identified called “High School Moguls”. He correctly assesses the Internets help in making possible for young “kids” to start making some major money online. In fact, according to a Business Week survey in 2000, 8% of all teens were making money online. Obviously, some were just making a few extra bucks on eBay but many, like the winners of our Underground® scholarship, are doing some really impressive things.

I’ve been getting a few updates from our Underground Online Seminar Young Entrepreneur scholarship winners, who attended the last LIVE event.

A recent one came in from Alex Maroko via an IM:

Not too shabby – before his senior year in college he’s sold over $100k of valuable info online, helped a ton of people and bought himself a convertible. I love it! [Side note: I just did a candid interview with Alex about how he started and what he did to build this business from scratch after attending the Underground®. It was in the latest issue of the Underground Secret Society newsletter. If you hurry you can subscribe and receive that interview.]

Here’s part of our candid interview

Yanik: This is going to be really fun. So we had 10 Young Entrepreneurs between the ages of 13 and 21, I think. And we had 10 scholarships to our Online Underground Seminar, which is a $3,500 ticket, and you got in.
So are you 20 years old now or 21?

Alex: I’m still 20.

Yanik: You’re 20, going into your senior year in college. And what got me really excited was – you and I have IM’d every once in a while and you’ve emailed and kept me up to date on the things that have been going on – and you sent me an IM the other day and said “Hey, I’ve made $100,000 in the last three months selling my products, and now I’m getting ready for my senior year so I’m really excited!”. I was like, “Wow, that’s pretty good!” So I’m sure the people listening and that will be reading this transcript would love to know just a little bit of the background and how you got started. You got started when you were 16 or something, right? Or was it before then?

Alex: Yeah, I was always doing things at a young age. I started training athletes when I was 16 years old, I had my first certification as a personal trainer and things like that. I was a basketball player originally so I was mainly training basketball players when I was younger. When I was 17, I was already training some NBA and pro-level type players. So
I had a lot of experience with that, but I never thought I could take it online or anything like that. Basically I would say it all began in November of 2008. I had a couple of other trainers who were doing some marketing online in the fitness
niche and who were big, like Ryan Lee who is an awesome dude who does a lot of cool stuff there. They said “You should check this out, we’re making some money online. Just give it a shot and see what happens”.

Yanik: Did you know them personally or did you just see them online and see what they were doing?

Alex: It actually happened when I was in college. My first year I went to a different college and was a basketball player. The school was in Florida and there were a couple of trainers who had a gym a couple of blocks from school and I was training there. I started talking to them. I’d be there lifting weights and they’d be up in the office on their laptops all day. I was like “What are these guys doing?” It was kind of eye-opening for me that they were putting their training businesses online all because they were making more money online.

Yanik: Interesting.

Alex: Yeah, it was very interesting. So my eyes were opened and I said “I’ll give this a shot”. So I put together my first ebook – kind of like everyone else, that’s the first thing I did. I wrote the whole thing, it was like 100 pages, in one week, just to knock it out. One of my friends who knew the internet better than me put up a WordPress site and put up a
simple sales page. We were taking orders through PayPal. It was very rudimentary and we probably made something like eight or nine sales within a few months, between November and February.

Yanik: What was the subject, was that on the basketball stuff?

Alex: It was just a book about ball handling, teaching players to dribble better. So I had the niche part down without ever knowing it, so I guess that was pretty good. That was probably the smartest thing I did. But obviously I didn’t know anything about internet marketing at that time. I just thought you put a product up and people started buying it. Isn’t that how it’s supposed to work? It sounded great, it just didn’t actually work out like that. So that’s basically what happened for the next few months. I wasn’t actually doing anything to drive traffic to the site. If you had told me something about testing, I’d have said “You’re crazy”.

So I heard about the Undergound Online Seminar scholarship offer from a friend of mine. He was like “Dude, you’ve got to apply for this. You’re young and you’re trying to do stuff online and you should give this a shot”. So I filled out an application. And what’s funny – I don’t even know if you know this, Yanik – but I was the 11th person to win a scholarship. Number 10 apparently couldn’t make it and I was fortunate enough to get that last one. Going to the seminar was just a huge break for me. Obviously the speakers were incredible and there was a lot of technical information to be learned, but I think it was definitely the people I was able to meet and the relationships I was able to build that really made the biggest
difference for me. Just talking with people in the lobby and going over ideas. It was just so eye-opening for me at that event, just seeing what possibilities there were for me online. And at that point, once I had that belief that I actually could do something online, that nothing was holding me back, it was just like a slingshot. I just took off. I knew what I was going to do and I started putting all my plans into action for my ebooks.

But the first thing I thought of, there was a guy named Greg Poulis  who spoke at your event who actually lives about 15 or 20 minutes away from me. So we actually So we started talking and I had this great idea: I’m going “relaunch” my ebook that’s been on sale for a few months. So I basically put the whole thing together within a couple of weeks and we
did something like $20,000 immediately the very first week.

Yanik: Okay, let’s back up a little bit. So when you walked in to Underground 5, what were you doing with your ebook business? About how much?

Alex: At that point I’d probably sold, I think, eight or nine books, I think at $14.95. And I think I chose $14.95 because in my head that was the price. I was like that is the most amount of money anyone will ever pay me for anything online. So that was what I’d done up to that point.

Yanik: Okay, so you were still kind of struggling. So then you met a bunch of guys. You were actually on the hot seat, I think, during this lunch that we put on with the Maverick Business Adventures members. Is that
right?

Alex: Yes. At the luncheon I got to go up in front of all of the Maverick Business members. I had like 10 minutes. I talked about business for a couple of minutes and then had everyone firing ideas and improvements and tests and things like that. So that was obviously awesome.

And then after the luncheon, basically right after the hot seat, I stood up and went back to my seat. And a friend of yours, Craig Ballantyne, came up to me. We’re in similar niches, he’s kind of like the top guy in fitness right now, and he started talking to me. We spent probably two or three hours together that whole weekend after that and his entire focus was on
my business. And that was just huge for me. A guy who’s doing so well online in a similar niche to be working at my business for me and planning things out for me for the long term. It’s just so motivating and
inspiring when you see something like that.

Yanik: So you went home from Underground, obviously all excited, pumped up, had lots of ideas, met some contacts. So what did you do then to get this ball rolling so to speak? That was a bad pun to use with ball handling, but… So you met Greg Poulis who was at Underground, talking about launches and relaunches and…

Alex: What I had in terms of internet marketing product: I had a digital version of Mass Control and I went through that in like a couple of days. And it’s not just for launches, but I figured out exactly how I was going to launch it. And then I had all the technical stuff from talking with Greg in terms of how many days it’s going to go, what I’m going to do on each
day, things like that.

Yanik: Tell us a little bit about that. Do you remember your plan?

Alex: Yeah. The launch date I had set up, I think it was April 21st, and I think I got that from your event, maybe 5 or 6 weeks before that. So I had a small time to plan out this entire launch. So it was an April 21st launch, we started the pre-launch on April 14th. We just went with a seven day pre-launch period. I don’t want to jump in too far but when I got back from your event, which was probably very smart of me, was research and start contacting affiliates, JV partners, people I thought had subscriber lists or had a lot of reach to people who would potentially buy my product. So I started contacting people, and I probably found 50 or so people online and I put together a good email and I sent the same one to everybody. I only had something like five or six affiliates who actually took part in this launch with me. I was fortunate that one of them was actually a pretty big affiliate and he’s a really cool guy and he made a ton of sales that week. So finding good affiliates was really big for me.

Yanik: How did you find those affiliates?….(continued in full version)

—Snippet from Interview from Secret Society newsletter. If you hurry you can subscribe and receive the full interview –

Another shining star is Danielle Herb. I think she turns 16 years old in a few weeks! When she came to Underground® she was having some tremendous success working with ADD/ADHD & Autistic children. At the event  she got on the Hot Seat and let the Maverick members dissect what’s she’s doing and give her some direction for how to make it bigger.

And she has – currently she’s working on raising $50,000 by Oct 1, 2009 to secure a world class training facility in Ocala, FL where she will be able to provide free horse therapy to kids. Nicknamed “The Horse Capital of the World,” Ocala lends itself to being the perfect location for Danielle to give support. I just donated and hope you might consider too. Go to www.DropYourReins.com to see what she’s doing.

There’s also Michael Dunlop, who is the 20 year-old son of Maverick Business Adventures® member Barry Dunlop. Michael and Barry attended my recent Millionaire MasterMind group and Michael shared his incredible results from blogging. Once again, one of those ideas that really doesn’t make much capital but can yield some incredible byproducts and revenue. Michael has 2 blogs he actively runs and has become quite a crusader in the Young Entrepreneur space himself with Retireat21.com, IncomeDiary.com and WebDesignDev.com among others.

I really enjoy spending time with Michael and seeing how he’s developing as an entrepreneur. He’s been able to land some pretty cool interviews including Craig Newmark (from Craig’s List) and Gary Vaynerchuk among dozens of other young entrepreneurs and success stories. Michael and I are talking about holding a pre-day at the next live Underground® devoted to young entrepreneurs. The idea would be to bring in these real online whiz kids to share what they’re doing and then maybe do a “Dragon’s Den” style session where others share their ideas and let the Maverick Business Adventures® brainstorm and make them better.

I haven’t decided yet if this is the direction we’ll go – so drop me a comment and let me know what you think.

I want to share with you a cool form I created for myself and have only shared with a few people. I think it’ll have a profound effect on your bottom line, your happiness and your esteem. Seriously! Each Sunday evening I have started using this form planning for the next upcoming week.

(Note: You are welcome to reproduce as many copies as you want but you cannot sell it and you must not modify it.)

You can download it here – maverick multiplier worksheet

Okay now you’ve got it let me go over the different parts of this form with you.

Part I: Weekly Awesomeness Awareness

It’s always easier for us to beat ourselves up and think what went wrong in our business and personal lives. This isn’t the spot for that. Take time to reflect on what went well! The power of gratitude has been proven to elevate our happiness and that’s what gets us into a positive state of mind.

Think about everything that went right this week. What are you making progress on? What’s actually working? Because it’s too easy to fall into a negative, self-defeating spiral when you find something wrong and then more and more things start sticking out about your life and business. Nobody has a perfect business or life – but by bringing positive focus to what’s going well you’re setting up a great week.

Part II: Make More, Have More Fun and Give More Back Section

If you’ve seen any of the Maverick Manifesto video – you know these intersecting 3 circles are the things that really drive me. I think it’s a balanced approach to entrepreneurship and unless we are planning and committing to creating this in our business lives it won’t happen.

I need to tip my hat to Cameron Herold who has been coaching me a bit. Cameron is the former COO of 1-800-Got Junk and helped build that to a $100M organization. One of the simple concepts he keeps stressing to me is creating a “Top 3″ list of most important must-accomplish tasks for the week. If nothing else, you must get these done. It’s a pretty simple concept but powerful. So I took that concept and instead of just being financial related let’s turn the focus on all 3 areas.

So take time before the week starts to think about your 3 most important, proactive moneymaking tasks and also about how you are going to create fun in your life and what you’re going to do to give.

Try this out and let me know what you think by leaving a comment.